The Ravine

This movie was a little hard to follow. The flashbacks are too sporadic and abrupt. Joanna is reminiscent of Mother Abigail from The Stand but seems more like a Saturday Night Live spoof character than an homage. The cast are all good actors with established careers but I feel the script and direction failed them. The story is an important one to tell but the execution missed the mark for me. I watched the entirety of the film to see it through but it was a bit of a struggle to do so. It had the potential to be a blockbuster but left me with more of a dark, Hallmark movie vibe. Being that this was based on a true story, I would love to see it retold in a more cohesive manner. The styling and cinematography were well done. I will give it that. I do think it's still worth a watch because it touches on mental health struggles and understanding grief which are two topics that everyone needs to talk about more often to help with the stigmas attached to both.