Film Review - Peaks And Valleys (2019)

This gem from Alaskan director Michael Burns is a display of excellence of an independent film. Set in a remote part of the Alaskan wilderness, most of the film takes place in and near a simple cabin seemingly designed to do little else than maintain life, but not necessarily support its flourishment. The cabin is surrounded by miles upon miles of grass (later, snow), a nearby lake, and seemingly endless trees; its vastness is compounded through sweeping opening shots of trees, mist, water and sky, settling the audience into an immediate sense of solitude, with the silence punctuated only by the echoing chirps of happy birds.

Jack (Kevin T. Bennett) is our protagonist. When we meet him, he is unenthusiastically retrieving a dead rabbit from one of his traps, moving with a slow, almost bored, gait. After skinning, washing, cooking and presumably eating the rabbit, he plunks himself down on a chair on the porch and we are given a look at his face for the first time—and what a drawn, grizzled face it is, partly obscured by the shadow of his hat, sporting a hostile scowl.

The foil to Jack’s withdrawn, stubborn character is a significantly younger woman named Bailey (Kitty Mahoney). Bailey makes her dramatic appearance by being dumped unceremoniously out of an airplane while wrapped in plastic, landing with a splash in a lake. Jack is livid that the plane has dumped what he thinks is trash into unspoiled wilderness, until he notices that the bag is moving and writhing on the water; with a gait this time indicating a sense of urgency, Jack climbs into his canoe and paddles out to investigate.

With Jack and Bailey now residing together in the close cabin quarters, Bailey both physically and mentally bruised and battered and Jack less than willing to offer words of kindness, the two must come to understand and trust each other as they navigate their time alone in the vast, snow-covered, unforgiving Alaskan wilderness, their stories unfolding in different ways.

Bennett’s performance of Jack could easily have come across as stale or overdone, or as a cheap copy of famous grizzled, nature-smart old men protagonists, but he embodies the complex and introverted character skilfully, delivering his barking or snippy lines as convincingly as his (albeit rare) softer moments and tones. When Bailey challenges him at one point, we bear witness to a shift in dynamic that feels natural, not forced, as she physically towers over his figure crouching in the snow. Mahoney plays the traumatized but strong and determined Bailey with conviction and skill, inviting us into the physical and mental headspace of a woman battling a spectrum of emotions and capabilities that develop and blossom over the course of the film.

The film’s third act and conclusion are well-executed, with the story maintaining a steady pace throughout the film’s duration; nothing comes across as forced or haphazardly thrown together by screenplay writer Michael B. Dillon to create an ending to the story.

An original score by Evan Evans orients the audience into the ethos of the sequences unfolding on screen; similarly, editing is careful and intentional throughout the film, with a mix of shots that are sweeping, short, fast-paced and slow, mimicking emotions and action on-screen.

A must-watch for anyone looking for a film executed with skill and integrity.

Peaks and Valleys is available now on Amazon Prime (US).