A Dark Place (2018) User Reviews

Solid, if fairly familiar, small-town mystery/thriller

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 27 June 2018]

It is surprising to learn that this is a British made film. Made entirely with UK money, an English director and a couple of Irish actors in the two lead roles. Most impressive given that this passes pretty easily as an American product. It falls into a category of crime/thriller/mystery which there seems to be quite a few of, i.e. one set in a small town in the backwaters of the U.S. where an ordinary individual investigates or is hurled into a crime scenario. Many American independent films have been of this type in recent years and I guess this is one aspect which goes against Steel Country slightly, in that it is an overly familiar set-up. Nevertheless, it remains a good enough film with a very impressive central performance from Andrew Scott in the lead role of a bin man with an Asperger's type of condition, whose particular mind-set impels him to not accept a recent account of a young boy drowning. He suspects foul play and this leads him on a dangerous path with reveals dark secrets in the local town.

The film works more as a mystery than as a thriller; albeit, there are a couple of memorable scenes which fall under the latter bracket, including a surprising one near the finale. But mostly, this one focuses on an amateur sleuth seeking the truth and a town which seems reluctant to reveal all. Ultimately, this is a good, if relatively standard, bit of Americana (even if it is actually British!).

A decent film worth watching

[Roannalise · 7/10 · 17 April 2019]

The acting of the leading actor Andrew Scott in this film is excellent. The pace is a bit slow and the story isn't mind-blowing but Andrew's effortless performance engages the audience and makes you want to root for him and see how things are going to pan out. My only complaint is that the ending is a little weak.

Enjoyed it.

[macfaefan · 7/10 · 12 April 2019]

Admittedly it is slow but this 'Donnie' keeps you interested. He's handicapped mentally but smart,intuitive and a loving father. I found the story to be good and slowly opened up for the viewer.

Superb small town mystery thriller

[omendata · 7/10 · 14 April 2019]

I thought this was going to be a run of the mill thriller but it turned out to be quite engrossing all the way to the end mostly due to the superb acting ability of Andrew Scott who deserves an Oscar for his performance and this elevated the movie beyond your average pot boiler thriller aided and abetted by the performance from Bronagh Waugh.

For such a slow moving small movie it pulls a big punch and keeps the viewer interested and on the edge of the seat right to the rather surprising end and tackles a sadly very common and terrifying thought for any parent which gives the movie even more gravitas. Good camerawork and directing adds to the mix - If you are looking for an interesting mystery thriller that will not disappoint you cannot go far wrong with this one!

Low budget, but...

[riffat-87805 · 7/10 · 19 April 2019]

Obviously, the budget is an important thing to make a good movie, but, as we saw in this movie, it is not a crucial factor to make a good movie. We can see here a small budget movie, but, we can see also an overall good actor's performance, in fact, significant acting for the leading role Andrew Scott, a good direction, a good scenario, a meaningful story. And this is all that the good movie needs.

Steel yourself against them all.

[ulicknormanowen · 31 January 2020]

That the hero of this thriller is not the usual brilliant lawyer ,or the alcoholic cop about to be fired ,clichés to end all the clichés ,but a dustman, makes "steel country an "off the beaten track" work

A boy got drowned (that's what they say) ;and the dustman remembers this nice kid who used to wave hello to him every morning ;as her mom insists that her late son was too fearful to go for a walk alone ,this man who has his own family problems decides to investigate himself.

Andrew Scott gives a restrained effective performance;he moves through a hostile world and for all the inhabitants around ,he is an undesirable busybody,the boy got drowned and that's it;if the child might have been abused , they do not seem to care .

In spite of a low budget , the cinematography is sometimes splendid and directing takes advantage of the settings (the bridge where the hero is assaulted);nevertheless, the ending is somewhat questionable :is one allowed to take the law in one's hand?An ending a la "death wish" comes as an anti-climax , for a venomous somber work which was essentially a psychological thriller

Exceptionally good

[chrisusher-89116 · 7/10 · 16 April 2019]

For a budget film thriller a was surprised how good this was written Andrew Scott played the lead role well just shows you don't need a big name actor too play the role it's a little slow to start off with but be patient by the end you will have enjoyed it...

Now Really?

[percevial · 4/10 · 3 February 2020]

I don't know. Something was missing. I didn't connect with Donny (Andrew Scott). While Scott plays the role well, it's difficult to buy into the storyline, and there's a great deal of effort put in to drawing viewers into Donny's dissonance and overwrought good intentions, which include digging up the body of the child whose death the film centers around. Throughout the film, there are other events that are either nonsensical, disjointed or both. The closing is laughable and left me thinking, 'Now, really?'

Many critics unaware of the main character's condition

[caseypthompson · 9/10 · 24 January 2020]

While looking throughout the majority of the reviews, it's become very clear that the majority of the public knows nothing about Autism. The first sign was his need for the trash bin lid to be down and then his need to wear the same hat. His collection of pens and lining them up by color, his inability to read emotions on people, his need to recite all the President's names, etc. The way he crinkled the doctor's table paper because of the way "it feels and sounds" was also a very obvious hint. He even sort of mocks his own Autism disorder when he's talking to the mother of his daughter and "flaps" his hand in front of her face. Hand-flapping is a self-soothing that many on the spectrum do. People on the spectrum can have strong obsessions and the murder of this boy became exactly that. This is a soul who feels pushed out and lost in a world that doesn't understand him. He felt empathy or connection to a boy who truly looked at him in his garbage truck and would smile and wave every day at him. Most people don't look at or pay attention to garbage truck workers, so there's a similarity there as well.....the being unseen and the unheard in our society. He is full of love and determination and empathy. He is a troubled soul who lost his father and is taking care of his sick mother. He has spent years wandering through life feeling unloved and misunderstood and now he has something he can do that he is proud of. He's taking away something bad in this world when no one else would. This gives him purpose and redemption. This is a beautiful story. And, for anyone who immediately knew and understood that he was on the spectrum and included that in your reviews, thank you. The world won't ever understand Autism if they aren't awoken to it by others. I'm more disappointed that the director never let the word "Autism" be used in the movie.

Dark Drama

[Foutainoflife · 6/10 · 16 April 2019]

A boy goes missing in a rural town and the case becomes an obsession for a man who believes there is more to the case than what it appears to be.

I'll give a few more details. Our main character comes off as a decent enough guy but he has some sort of mental disability. He lives with his mother but has a daughter that lives with her mother. While visiting his kid, he learns she is on social media and while scrolling through her news feed, he learns that the boy is missing. The man works in sanitation and knows the boy from his garbage pick-up route because the kid made it a point to always wave when he saw him. While it never really gave a good explanation as to why he was so interested in the case, he becomes obsessed and determined to figure out what happened to the kid.

The main character played his part well, easily drawing the viewer into his character's emotions. The majority of the movie is carried by this character so kudos to the actor for his performance. The atmosphere in this is gloomy and the settings felt appropriate.

While I felt it could've used some more detail here and there, I thought it was a "meh" flick. Not amazing and not awful. If you choose to sit down and watch it just be prepared for the slow burn.

A paint by numbers movie.

[S_Soma · 3/10 · 14 April 2019]

The plot line of A DARK PLACE (a.k.a. STEEL COUNTRY) is uncomplicated. A fairly young man, Donald, works as a garbage collector in a small American town. Donald has some form of autism along the spectrum, but it's unspecified as to whether it's Asperger's, high functioning autism or something else on the spectrum. Donald is still living with and caring for his disabled mother who seems to be experiencing the opening salvos of dementia.

(Note: you will probably have noticed by now that I didn't give A DARK PLACE a very high star rating. It's lackadaisical representation of what is supposed to be some level of autism contributed to that low rating. Particular levels of autism are characterized by specific and established symptomology. Clearly the writer and the director cherry-picked their collection of behaviors for visual and emotional appeal and little else. I'm no snowflake or SJW, but I think if you don't want to be accused of appropriation/exploitation in your movie, then I think you should at least be obliged to make a legitimate representation of the syndrome you're leveraging to make your movie.)

Donald, in a manner characteristic of his syndrome, notices that a boy that usually waves to him as he performs his collection duties, suddenly fails to do so. This is a change, and, also in a manner characteristic of his syndrome, it makes Donald uncomfortable. This forms the basis of Donald's motivation throughout the movie to investigate what happened to Tyler Ziegler, the missing waving boy. As it turns out, Tyler is not only missing, he's dead.

Donald comes to find out that there are elements of Tyler's death, an apparent drowning, that seem overtly at odds with the type of thing that would reasonably happen to Tyler. It would have been very unusual, for example, for Tyler to be anywhere near the river given the fact that he was known to be terrified of it. When virtually the entire town does not seem to find Tyler's "accidental" drowning in the river to be anything suspicious, this also makes Donald uncomfortable, and he begins nosing around and asking difficult questions, rattling everybody's cages.

It isn't long before certain elements of the small town begin pushing back.

There was little about A DARK PLACE I found appealing. The whole idea of using an autistic person as the film's choice for the ever popular "Defective Detective" trope a la MONK, BONES, RAINES, LONGSTREET, TOUCHING EVIL, and on and on and on and on and on... seems a bad choice. This trope was stupid 10 years ago and now it's just unforgivable. The fact that they don't even represent the primary characters autism in a legitimate and consistent fashion just makes it jaw-dropping.

Secondly, while this is presumably supposed to be some kind of detective story, Donald doesn't really do any sort of actual detecting. He just goes around and talks to people who hand him clues on a plate. If the type of autism the movie was trying to represent was supposed to be Asperger's, which I guess would be the closest to the paint-by-numbers collection of behaviors represented in the movie, this represents a missed opportunity. People with Asperger's, while not universally so, quite often have unusually high intelligence and a surprising ability to connect information with intuitive leaps. Could have made for a fascinating detective story where the detective actually figured stuff out instead of just dully absorbing what he's handed.

In a particularly ham-fisted move, we are given to know that "this here's Trump country" by the presence of political posters promoting Trump. So, of course, everything evil and slimy and unspeakable that happens is only reasonable because, you know, it's clearly a town full of deplorables. I'm no great fan of Trump, but I can recognize a cheap shot from a director when I see it.

It's unfortunate that this was a movie with an untenable plot because the acting itself, scene to scene and outside of concern for what was being portrayed, was quite good. It's a shame it was wasted on this movie.

Excellent film.

[brummieman · 9/10 · 15 April 2019]

The main actor plays the role of an autistic man who is fixated on making sure things are left as they should be, from something as simple as a dustbin lid being left open to a serious crime being left unsolved, that is not how things should be and he will have no peace of mind until things are put right even if putting things right is a matter of life or death. The main actor deserves an Oscar, his performance was amazing, the story is dark and tragic but overall it is a brilliant film, and I'm not easily pleased,

A decent movie but...

[Headturner1 · 7/10 · 15 April 2019]

So now his daughter is left with an uncaring moth and a boyfriend whom she's always arguing with. I think this was a little outlandish. If anyone did the things he did he'd of been in jail. Digging the body up , waking into peoples homes. Trying to run over people. vigilante not. It was a decently done movie but Just kind of ridiculous. The acting was good and Donny as an Irishman ( haven't seen him in anything else did great as an autistic american. But I just think it was a bit outlandish.

Longest 1 hour 29 minutes of my life

[doobster-38-53177 · 5/10 · 18 July 2019]

Very slow moving, good acting, decent story. Even at 1 and a half hours it felt like an eternity... I'd go back in time and not watch it if I could.

Good Watch

[svader · 7/10 · 13 April 2019]

I enjoyed the film. Easy watching, good story and personable characters. I'm not quite sure what reviewer Dlbott is talking about British film making ? There have been some great Asian films and European films killed by Hollywood. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Eye as first thought examples.

Does it really matter where a film is made as long as it is enjoyable ?

British and proud !!

Loved it

[Ricky-ikhtifar · 7/10 · 16 April 2019]

I like the plot to make a guess thinking dissolve into the story and the main actor's work is good

earnest effort....

[smoke0 · 17 August 2019]

...but really pointless in the end. I did buy all the characters, even after seeing the wife from The Fall doing a good PA accent and wondering why she was in this, until I read about the film being an English production.

The movie keeps you watching, although there are too many "wait, what?" moments that only serve to advance the plot and are too ridiculous to be believable, and the ending is less than satisfactory, so while this is a very earnest effort, it's ultimately not worth the investment, as the actors really needed a better script.

.

Good performance by Andrew Scott, film sends some mixed signals

[ismaelslgd · 6/10 · 23 March 2020]

I found A Dark Place while looking to watch a short movie I had never heard of before. Its premise reeled me in; a dead child is found in a small town, and a loner with a hunch investigates. Andrew Scott plays Donny, a sanitation worker who lives with his mother and has a daughter with a woman who does not love him back. The film gives us clues that Donny likely has high functioning autism due to his need to organize things and his compulsory drive to get to the bottom of the child's death. We thus follow his path down avenues no one else would dare travel. I think of it like Taxi Driver set in rural Pennsylvania, but nowhere near as effective, as I felt myself questioning the intent and morality of Donny's actions more than I had liked. But since A Dark Place deals with very complicated topics such as the death of a child, mental health and personal privacy, perhaps that is the point. If you are intrigued by lesser-known films with challenging premises, A Dark Place is certainly an option. Andrew Scott is really good, too. The film is on his shoulders, and he stays the course. Lastly, if you want to see the influence classic films like Taxi Driver have over the film world, check this film out to see what you pick up on.

Truly pathetic and disgusting

[gustheaffen · 1/10 · 9 January 2020]

The writers clearly had TDS syndrome as the start with a ton of Trump Pence signs in deplorable country but this must have been the run up to the 2016 election because the economy sucked and everything was closed like when Obama was potus. Story was stupid and basically irresponsible parenting by low income people leads to molestation and murder. The OMG such a twist reviews are ridiculous. Add in vigilante justice with an unlikely weapon. Waste of time.

Underrated

[harrybosdaddy · 9/10 · 18 October 2019]

This is a fantastic film held together in no small part by the fantastic performance by Andrew Scott. I can't understand how this can score less than 7 out of 10 unless all you're into is Marvel Comic CGI nonsense

good indy film

[botfeeder · 7/10 · 6 February 2020]

I found this to be a movie well deserving of being viewed. Good acting, good story. The rust belt environment where the story took place came across very authentic. The portrayal of the mildly autistic lead character seemed very genuine.

Just another example of how many good movies there are out there that don't reach a mass audience.

Scott has been much better

[Ralindon0 · 2/10 · 21 February 2020]

Andrew Scott acts as if he's an actor trying to act like he's not acting. His entire performance lacks depth and authenticity. He winds up being a distraction from what could have been a decent story.

Scott drives directly into your soul....

[wildsparrow16 · 10/10 · 14 April 2019]

Andrew Scott (whom I was not familiar with prior to this film) gives an Oscar worthy performance as a sanitation worker somewhere on the spectrum or possibly Borderline Personality Disorder. Despite character assertions that he "is not a smart man", we learn this is not true as he pieces together parts of a murder and the dark past that surrounds it. Despite his inner turmoil, he is able to hold down a steady job and engage in social interactions when needed or desired. He is a kind, gentle soul who struggles in caring for his elderly mother and believes there is hope in a relationship with a woman with whom a relationship never even existed. However, the brief union did result in a lovely daughter who shares his kindheartedness. Perhaps she is part of his drive to find the killer of another child (we know the child is dead from the trailers and the first few minutes of the film). This takes place in a small town in the rust belt and political commentary is made without words in the first few minutes of the film where we see closed-down buildings with old election signs, expressing the irony. Some may be turned off by this, but you do not need to be of a certain party to appreciate this intense, haunting thriller. Scott is magnetic and the other characters are all exceptionally interesting and well-acted. It is a very slow-burn that completely engulfed me. This movie is disturbing in subject, but not gory or violent.

Decent mystery thriller

[calicut110 · 7/10 · 14 December 2019]

Generally well made and kept you interested. I would recommend

Should Have Stayed in the Dark

[westsideschl · 4/10 · 12 August 2019]

A garbage (sanitation) truck driver for some reason decides to find out why a young boy, who usually waves to him while on his route, doesn't show. Slightly socially awkward, perhaps one of the autistic spectrum disorders (not clear, and it's inconsistent use was not accurate) he begins to ask questions about the boy's disappearance. Storyline plays off of the currently popular (past couple years) script hook of sexual molestation. A lot of little subplots are tossed in that have little or nothing to do w/our main plot thus storyline lacks fluidity (forced & jumbled) some of which strain credulity. Ending, could have been better, especially punishment w/out proof or trial.