The Pond (2021)

A slow-to-get-going, very quiet but beautifully shot rural folk horror that I'm sure most people will hate but I found very satisfying, once it got going, to the extent that it ever does. A researcher out at a rural pond for not-clearly-specified reasons encounters mounting hallucinations and increasingly hostile locals, with a heavy dose of pagan mythology. Picture a much quieter, almost arthouse "The Wicker Man" or "Midsommar" vibe, but fortunately restrained enough not to be distractingly pretentious.

This was very badly panned by a lot of people on IMDB, but a few seemed to appreciate it as I did, and film buffs might find it to stand out from the pack. Despite being bored for the first part, I did, and by the end I found it very good.

The cinematography stood out, and even a lot of reviewers who hated the film acknowledged that—very reminiscent of Lars von Trier, with natural lighting and gorgeous natural vistas, and effective atmosphere. The story is slow and cryptic, to say the least, but that might be ok... it was tough to follow, and some of the images were familiar from films with a similar slant, but ultimately it ended up interesting enough as a whole that it left me wanting to watch it again at some point and pay closer attention.


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