Hollow in the Land (2017)

This movie is better than what some of the reviews say.

If the characters of "Hollow in the Land" had been slightly more bizarre and if the film had been graced with an eerie soundtrack, this might have been an episode of "Twin Peaks."The action takes place in a small, picturesque town in Western Canada. But the residents of Castlegar are too busy with custody battles, crime, drugs, and covering up their dirty laundry to take note of the beautiful landscape.The narrative focuses on the character of Ally Miller, who is La Femme Nikita transplanted to the Pacific Northwest. Ally turns into a kinetic private eye as she attempts to clear the name of her young brother, who has been placed in her custody after the incarceration of their father, Keith Miller, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter.The young lad that was killed by the drunken Mr. Miller was Eli Balkoff, the son of the two town local scions, Helen and Jim Balkoff, who run the Balkoff paper mill where Ally works. Mr. and Mrs. Balkoff have recently dedicated their efforts to building a Center for Misguided Youth in their community, of which there are plenty of examples of juvenile delinquency.Amid the degeneracy of Castlegar, Ally Miller steps up to the plate to track down the culprits who have framed her little bro, Brandon Miller. Along the way, Ally learns that nearly all of the residents are guarding personal secrets. Two of the most intriguing characters are a pair of elderly women who have for years been growing pot, unbeknownst to the member of the community. Those women may hold the key to collective past of the town that will unlock the secrets to the great antipathy felt towards the Miller family.The irony of the townspeople is that everyone seems to know everyone else and makes it their personal business to be nosy. And yet, in the end, they really do not know each other's deepest secrets. One of the colorful placenames is that of Snob Hill, where Ally is led to another one of her clues. In this sleepy little trailer park community of Castlegar, it turns out that there really are some social snobs, who may help Ally to undercover the tragic underbelly of her dysfunctional world.

Hollow in the Land is quite an entertaining film. It will appeal to everyone who love watching small, low budget indie films. You also might like it if you enjoy films that have a darker, melancholic feel and are mostly character and performance driven. The story explores feelings of love, guilt, bravery, dedication and vengeance. If you live in a small town where everyone knows or want to know everything about each other then you will be able to feel a story even better in my opinion. The performances are good, characters feel real, the story is gripping, pace is even and there are some nice twists. I know Hollow in the Land did not receive many positive reviews so I suggest you see it and decide for yourself, you might be surprised.

I thought this was an above average film made more interesting by the capable acting of Dianna Argon as the lead character, Alison Miller. Throughout the story, Alison has to deal with a lot of disrespect from others in this blue collar environment largely due to the relationship between her father's crime and the local community, but also because of her younger brother's unruliness and general bias from Alison's being a lesbian. This all conspires to make her struggle to find her brother and hopefully prove his innocence more challenging and thereby interesting.As the story develops, you learn there is a fair amount of interplay between the various people in the background and it can be a little confusing if you're not paying attention to the various character's names. If you do loose track as I did, it still manages to come together in the end. All said, in my view, a worthwhile watch.