Take Me to the River (2015)

Matt Sobel transforms a nightmare he once had into an evocative, original drama.

Is it me, or is the big climactic reveal not really worth all the hubbub?

Sobel evokes more terror from a shot of a field of sunflowers, or a weathered barn, than can be found in the last dozen found-footage films combined.

Sobel is clearly trying to hit on something more original than a family-secrets drama, but in doing so, he pulls most of his punches.

The movie pivots from what I expected it to be: a family drama about an outsider, as the opening conversation suggests. Instead, it becomes an eerie mood piece about secrets buried deep in a family's fabric.

The menace never becomes palpable, whether because of illogical plot lines or questionable casting. The stakes are so high, but the suspense never rises to the occasion.

All-too-familiar familial battleground, well-known from decades of low-budget indie drama.

You'll have to see for yourself what a slender plot line, well-chosen parts, and skillful directing can achieve with a handful of rich characters and a deceptively peaceful setting.

Yet another dysfunctional family drama indie film, writer-director Matt Sobel's Take Me to the River has its flaws. But on the whole, this is an impressive feature debut.

You admire Sobel's tenacity, even if his reach exceeds his grasp.

Take Me to the River is Picnic at Hanging Rock-level cagey about its central mysteries, and while many of its characters know what happened off-screen in both the recent and distant past, they ain't sharing the details with us, just their pain.

The cheap use of the hot-button issue of pedophilia coupled with negatively minded ignorance regarding homosexuality is not only offensive but-far worse-completely uninvolving