Brightwood – Review

84 Minutes, Not Rated

Written and Directed by Dane Elcar

Synopsis:

A couple find themselves trapped while on a run around a pond.

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Movies about marriages on the rocks are a dime a dozen, and lately it feels as though movies involving Time are also a dime a dozen.

What happens, then, when you mash the two together into one bizarre package?

Well, in the case of Brightwood, it turns out you wind up with a really interesting and unique take on both topics.

Jen is on a run, trying to decide whether her marriage to Dan can survive the latest in a series of missteps on his part. Dan valiantly tries to run with her in order to plead his case. Dan isn’t a bad person, per se, but after so long together, they both have doubts about whether their entire relationship has been a mistake from the outset.

Anyone whose been in a long-term relationship knows this feeling; it’s not a lack of love for the other, but rather simply time, routine, and the cyclic nature of existence which can lead to either an equilibrium of sorts or into a downward spiral.

It is this spiral in which Jen and Dan eventually find themselves as they loop the pond, only to discover the exit trail has vanished.

What follows is an ongoing cinematic metaphor for Time, Routine, and this Cyclic nature of their relationship. First, they try to locate the trail, certain they simply “missed it.” Then, as the realization finally hits them that they cannot find their way out, they each encounter versions of themselves they may otherwise never have had to face.

I’ll leave the plot at that, only adding that the dialogue is a wonderfully clever, interwoven helix of metaphor for both their relationship and their situation.

As in life, as the film progresses, we see adjustments being made, with revelations and admissions culminating in the final evolution of their relationship and resolution of their situation.

A witty and often heartfelt examination of the social-human condition, Brightwood is a definite must-see for anyone whose ever felt stuck in a relationship, uncertain which way to go or what to do differently in order for things to change.

Not the ending you might expect, but definitely one I appreciated.

Brightwood is now available on disc and VOD and stars Dana Berger and Max Woertendyke.

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