Half a decade after House Of Sand And Fog, director Vadim Perelman hasn’t lightened up. The doomy atmospherics are laid on so treacle-thick in this dual-timeframe drama, it’s a wonder the actors have room to breathe. Yet Uma Thurman is affectingly stoic as Diana, frazzled adult survivor of a Columbine-esque high school shooting.
As she struggles to steady her feelings of guilt and remorse, we flash back to her teen self (an intense Evan Rachel Wood), who finds herself snared in a harrowing moral dilemma. Part Elephant, part Jacob’s Ladder, moments of bruising power are dulled by overwrought symbolism and a baffling wrap-up.
Rob James
