Somebody or something is stealing the
children of Cold Rock Washington, and they've given this
something a name… The Tall Man. It's also the name of
this movie directed by Pascal Laguier, one often labeled as a
horror thriller when more accurately it's more of a drama that
ends with a discussion on the politics of class.
If this movie does one thing well, it sure makes the mythical
town of Cold Rock Washington one helluva miserable place to
live. A young girl is narrating the piece, describing to
us how her town is dying and what a hell hole it is, but that
was unnecessary to be honest with you because I didn't need
her help to see this. That aside, we'll be spending some
quality time with Julia Denning (Jessica Biel) here at Cold
Rock, a widowed nurse who has been tending to the townsfolk
ever since her husband, the town doctor, passed away. On
this particular day Julia is delivering the baby of a young
Carol (Katherine Ramdeen), daughter of the deliciously trashy
Tracy (Samantha Ferris) and older sister to the adorably cute
but mute Jenny (Jodelle Ferland). Thing is the father of
this baby seems to be Tracy's boyfriend Steven (Teach Grant)
which you would think would grant Steven a sound reprimand
from his girlfriend but apparently live-in boyfriends knocking
up family members is commonplace in Cold Rock.
After a hard day's work, Julia likes to come home to play her
young son David (Jakob Davies) and unwind a bit… but the
specter of The Tall Man is never far behind. In fact, it
looks like The Tall Man has paid the young mother a visit and
now David has been taken with Julia desperate to get him back,
no matter what.
Now here's where things get a little
weird. Julia had a really rough night trying to get
David back, being dragged along by truck, getting into a car
accident, and attacked by a vicious German shepherd all before
collapsing on a cold street, with her child still nowhere to
be found. Eventually she's picked up by the G-man
investigating the case (Stephen McHattie) and taken to the
local diner… which in itself was curious since the woman
obviously needed to be taken to a hospital… but the folks in
the diner are staring at her real strange-like. I mean
it looks like the town of Cold Rock might be in on the taking
of these children and things are looking a little ritualistic
around here. Or not.
Whatever is going on, Julia is going to risk everything to get
her son back… though… as is often the case in these things…
all isn't what it appears.
While the overall, bottom line product of 'The Tall Man' does
leave a little to be desired, basically crumbling under just a
little bit of post-movie scrutiny, Pascal Laguier's film does
have some rock solid elements working in its favor.
Let's start with the oppressive atmosphere that we mentioned
earlier because the director did a great job in making Cold
Rock someplace we really didn't want to be. It's dark,
it's gray, it's cold, and the place looks completely hopeless,
a place where nothing can grow, which I imagine was kind of
the point. Then let us add to this a very fine
performance from Jessica Biel who did her best to look as
plain as humanly possible, and even without makeup we're not
completely sure she pulled this off, but her performance was
critical in keeping the audience off balance for whatever was
going to revealed to us later on, and she hid her hand
exceptionally well. And while the story itself might be
a little on the ridiculous side as it ultimately played itself
out, I do have to hand it to the director in that it did keep
you guessing and on your toes pretty much to the very end as
to what was going on. And, unlike some movies that we've
seen recently, it explains pretty clearly what was going on.
Oh… but it is what was revealed to us is where 'The Tall Man'
skidded off the tracks. Without giving anything away I
have to think that if children are systematically being stolen
from a single community over a period of, I don't know, two
years… I would imagine that more than one downtrodden agent
would be dispatched to investigate this atrocity. Now
considering this is a movie about the benefits of class, it's
thrown out there that nobody cares because these kids are
poor, but as an argument that's too simplistic.
Again, without giving thing away because it's pretty important
that nobody spoil this for you if you choose to watch it since
spoilerage would pretty much negate any reason to really watch
it, once we do get to the reveal and you are forced to play
over what you have just seen in your mind's eye, this is when
even the most basic things stop making sense. And we'll
just let it go at that. You do have the option of not
replaying these events in your mind and simply walking away,
stunned at the reveal, but the film doesn't move fast enough
to warrant this so you almost have no choice in the matter.
Regardless, 'The Tall Man' isn't without merit as it has some
solid elements holding it up. But as far as the
narrative is concerned, considering where the story was going,
I can't think of any kind of logical fix for it because it's
built in. No wiggle room. We're stuck with it, and
this would be the ultimate downfall for a film with a lot
going for it.
