Morning Mist ★★★★☆

Review of 'Morning Mist' which can be found here on MiShorts.

Length: 06:27

Written by Katie McCullough. Directed by Gaëlle Denis

Genre: Crime

Date: 2009

Rating: ★★★★☆

Logline: A farmers misguided efforts to help an attractive stranger leaves him in trouble with the cops. 

Another Vauxhall 48-Hour Film Challenge entry and this one is full of atmosphere and mood. The high quality filming equipment put this effort in a good position from the get go. Many shots have a nice cinematic look to them and with the combination of an orchestrally ambient soundtrack, this makes for good viewing. 

The plot takes a simple concept but is organised in such a way as to provide a mysterious and twisty tale for the audience. Given that the title card tells us that this is a crime genre piece, the filmmakers know that the viewers aren't going to hold back on making immediate assumptions and start guessing the plot straight away. It all centers around who is going to be the victim and who is going to be the victimiser. Putting the well meaning but slightly gropey farmer, Stephen Hope Wynne under the spotlight in the police interview room was not only a well thought out narrative tool but also a cheap and effective shot to film. Both he and Lydia Outhwaite underplay their roles which also allows an audience to interpret their actions in numerous ways. 

The dialogue probably gives more away to the audience than it should do. The policewoman's questions pull our expectations towards the farmers probable untoward intentions for the girl so we don't feel too bad about him being framed for murder. But the lack of motivation for the twin-killing kind of leaves us without much sympathy for her either, leaving no real rootable character. 

Hell, they did make it up in two days though so it was never going to be perfect. Watch out for obvious breathing by the dead body in the suitcase for a laugh (good on her for getting in there!) On the whole, good story and well produced. 

Best Bit: Good film quality and atmosphere. 

Worst Bit: It's pretty obvious early on that there's a body in that there bag.

Final thought: For a muckle suitcase, there wasn't much came out it in order to fit a dead body inside. 

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.