The uttlery mediocre screenplay might be explained by a misplaced, arrogant and eventually desperate hope that a superb source material (the original book) paired with the talented Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, supplemented with shots of coastal views would be enough. It was never going to be enough.
Poor writing, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Lucia Zucchetti and Gareth C. Scales, was the crumbling foundation for this project.
Strikingly, the audience experience is akin to watching 6 hours of unedited documentary footage where a middle-aged couple forgot to, or didn't know how to switch off their GoPro. Albeit with a postcard perfect frame or two, bled grey with stagnant, unrivetting, gloomy dialogue, a flashback or two, and tonnes of tedious exposition.
No aspect of this film makes up for nor can carry the burden of this seemingly endless 2-hour-long running time (only?!) - time that one will never get back.
Tragically for the amazingly resilient real-life heroes of Salt Path, the painfully slow pace of Rebecca Lenkiewicz's lacklustre writing and the astoundingly unskilled editing by two paid professionals (Lucia Zucchetti and Gareth C. Scales) only makes viewers urge these characters on to whatever their end, good or bad - put everyone out of their misery - anything to make this film end sooner!
NOTE TO PRODUCTION; There must have opportunities between the table read stage (gosh, perhaps there wasn't one..) And deep inside the post-production bunkers when each and every head of department surely realised you were throwing good money after bad by not cutting your losses and canning this. What a waste.
*Credit and respect to the actors for completing this. Gosh. They trusted you!!!
