After watching this film three times, and mixing in some cinematographic favorites from the past as visual challenges. I must stick to my initial assessment of: This may be the best shot film I have ever seen. The Redwoods have an essence that is notoriously hard to capture film, director Asiel Norton captures it over and over again. Five minutes into this film I said to myself: "If this has any kind of a coherent story, it will be a great film". Much to my delight it was a very coherent and very primal story line complete with possibly my favorite cinematic "holy fool". The isolation of the family was almost a character in the story. A remote village can have some odd practices and rituals, this Depression era homestead is that remoteness at its most extreme. The cast was perfect, right down to the dog. Everything about this movie is to be praised and admired. It is hard not to ramble on saying x y and z were flawless, but they were. This directorial debut of Asiel Norton leaves me confident we have seen the our first glimpse of one of the all time greats.
