I like it when a film knows what it wants to do and does it – particularly a short film since their time is less and their need for precision is greater. The Gatherer is a film that knows what it wants to do, and it knows where it strengths lie and it plays directly to them throughout. Like so many great interrogation scenes in serial killer films, we have tension and we have a cold, calm suspected serial killer/arsonist. It is the latter one that the film is interested in and it delivers this character really well.
The film opens on him and closes on him, and both of the times it is memorable and draws the viewer in. The film opens in an interrogation room where Elijah sits humming an old spiritual with a beat under it; it is a stylish and engaging opening and it leads into the interrogation scene that we already know it will be. As the film continues, we also have another, much darker scene intercut into the main one. This is an effect that works very well because it gives us a real sense of danger and urgency which then sits alongside the still tension of the interrogation. It is an effect that works very well.
I do wish that the interrogation scene had a bit more teeth to it though. Haulbrook's Elijah is well played, but Scot's detective gets weak too quickly and I wanted more of the matching of wits to go on for longer. This is not a massive problem though, because the playing from Haulbrook and the alternative scene work well together to make this engaging. It may not have great ambitions beyond what it wants to do, and it may play to a genre, but it also knows its strengths and it works them well in a shot film that is atmospheric and engaging.
