Inland (2023)

You know, I can't quite decide whether it's great that Oscar winning knight of the realm Mark Rylance continues to support independent cinema like this, or was "Bridge of Spies" (2015) just a fluke and he really isn't much better than a jobbing actor for whom parts like this are his true bread and butter? Lately, I've begun to err on the side of the latter. In this rather dreary drama he is garage owner "Dunleavy" who welcomes home a young, unnamed, man (Rory Alexander) after that man's time in some kind of an institution. It's clear there is a bond between the two men, but the nature of that bond is unclear and gets little clearer as this short feature leads us on a tale of rural mysticism the would seem to suggest that Alexander has some visceral relationship with the forest, with nature, with the creatures that live within. Where has his mother gone? She has been missing for ages. Has she just eloped or has something more sinister occurred? It poses questions, this film, but answers none leaving us with a rather rambling and muddled narrative with some beautiful photography, and an easy on the eye Alexander (when he smiles) but otherwise it's all just a bit of a non-story with lots of driving and the rather curious "Faerie Queene" establishment that may be a tad more than the local brothel. Perhaps I just wasn't on Fridtjof Ryder's wavelength for this, but as I left the cinema I could see I was not alone in my bemusement. It rains a lot too!