There is a subtle art to the mockumentary (LORD, how I hate that term). If the filmmakers don’t take the subject and the film itself seriously then it becomes parody or worse. The best ones walk the line so tightly that you’d be hard pressed to know it wasn’t real if you walked in on it late. A film like LAKE MUNGO takes its subject matter as seriously, as far as we can tell, as any documentarian, and it’s that seriousness that gives power to the mockumentary. If you can take your subject seriously then the audience will as well, and that’s when you can reel them in and do as you will.
THE BLUE HOUR is a very well done mockumentary/found footage film that asks the question – what would you do to find a lost loved one – and the lengths the main character goes are beyond space and time.
The film is posited as yet another documentary made by the director, though this one is different than her other films in that this one is a personal film. The director’s father disappeared years earlier without a trace and she is determined to investigate the disappearance to get to the bottom of where he went. The film includes interviews with her mother, her aunt, an acquaintance of her father, the officer that worked on the case, and a couple others. What she finds almost immediately is that her father’s case was never fully investigated and as she learns more and more about the mystery of his disappearance it seems that the police shrugged off any leads that pointed to the involvement of a possible cult in her father’s case. As the facts are revealed a strange and dangerous truth emerges that puts the director and her two crew members at risk as the cult will go to any length to protect their secret.
This is a very well made film, with a fascinating story. The acting is overall very good with only a couple of the actors being a little dodgy. It is well filmed and doesn’t veer off into shaky came shenanigans. The story unreels in a very good way that emphasizes the mystery and pulls you in. The biggest knocks on the film are that the reveal of what is going on seem a little undercooked. It’s interesting but it all comes in a couple of information dumps that don’t have a true resolution. I hate to think that this is another mockumentary/found footage that wants to be a series, but it really is left on a huge cliffhanger that is hard to get out of your mind.
If you can get past the hanging questions, this is a solid movie with a lot of mystery and a really engaging story. It’s definitely worth a look for fans of the subgenre and while it doesn’t break any new ground it’s a solid film and deserves to be seen.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23159982
3 .25 out of 5
(demerits for not wrapping things up more than they do)
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 