THE TALL MAN
THE TALL MAN-United States/Canada/France-2012
Jessica Biel as Julia Denning
Jodelle Ferland as Jenny
Samantha Ferris as Tracy
William B. Davis as Sheriff Chestnut
Stephen McHattie as Lt. Dodd
Written and Directed by Pascal Laugier
Watching The Tall Man is like driving on a road late at night that you think is familiar. You are under the impression that you know your way around and that your destination is just around the corner. But then you make the turn and everything changes; nothing seems the same, as if you’re in the middle of a bad dream about driving that you’ve woken up from only to find that you’re still dreaming the same damned bad dream. If what I just said seems confusing to you then you are on your way to understanding maybe 10% of the way I felt watching this movie. I’ll even go one better for you; after the movie ended and I was left sitting there shaking my head the first thing I did was consult the Wikipedia entry for the movie so that I could read a summary of the plot to determine whether I was understanding it correctly.
Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The A-Team) stars as Julia Dennings, a nurse in a small, dead town called Cold Rock, located somewhere in Washington state. Julia is the town nurse. Her husband, who passed away before the events of the movie, was the town doctor and was considered a ‘saint’ in the eyes of the townsfolk. The town was once a mining community; but that’s all gone now and Cold Rock and its citizens have all crawled in their graves and laid down to die, so to speak. To makes things even worse for this little Podunk town is a child abductor known as the ‘Tall Man’. Julia is skeptical that such a person exists until her own child is abducted and she must face up to the reality that the ‘Tall Man’ is all too real. I am going to stop right there. There is no way that I can tell you any more about this movie without giving away every single plot point.
The Tall Man is the latest film from Pascal Laugier. If the name rings a bell it’s because Laugier’s previous film was the intensely disturbing and insanely fucked-up French masterpiece Martyrs. I’m positive that with The Tall Man Laugier would have loved to have captured the lightning in a bottle that he did with Martyrs and he nearly does exactly that. Jessica Biel is fantastic in her role as Julia Dennings. Stephen McHattie (Pontypool, 300, Watchmen), as a federal agent assigned to the case, is one of the most reliable character actors working today. The film moves at a steady, comfortable pace. But it all goes back to driving on that road and thinking that you know where you are. The Tall Man is one of the few films of which I think a road map would have been beneficial.
NO TRIVIA
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Posted on 11/08/2012, in Canadian Horror Films, Films released in 2012, French Horror Films, Movies and tagged 300, child abduction, Jessica Biel, Julia, Martyrs, Missing person, Pascal Laugier, Pontypool, Stephen McHattie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Washington, Watchmen, Wikipedia. Bookmark the permalink. 16 Comments.
This is in my Netflix queue but I haven’t had a chance to watch yet…I’ll keep in mind that it will be confusing.
I felt that me getting up and grabbing a beer during the movie caused me to miss some story defining details. When in reality the film is just a mess.
I don’t think the movie is so much a mess as it is one that you should pause when you get up to take a whiz or grab a brew. Still, it’s no Martyrs.
It’s definitely not Martyrs.
Nope.
I liked this. I think the problem people had was they expected another horror movie, and this was just a clever, subtle drama. Glad you liked it buddy.
I did for the most part, Tyson. Thanks, pal.
Hey, thanks for dropping my by blog. I actually wrote my “Martyrs” review because I wanted to review “Tall Man.” I didn’t end up doing it, but I’m glad you did. The film was alright, but not as good as “Martyrs.” I felt like it was trying to hard to have a message or to make you think. “Martyrs” did that as well, but it didn’t feel as forced.
I agree 100% and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thank you!
I agree 100% and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thank you!
It’s too bad this wasn’t better considering laugier definitely has the ability to make a solid horror flick.
Agreed!
I loved Martyrs, it is one of my favorite movies of all time,and I am looking forward to Laugier’s first English language movie.
I do believe The Tall Man is his first EL movie, Alex. The day is mine, Trebek!!
I agree, I cannot recall another movie that he has made that was English. I hope that he can make the transition, because he has a very bright future ahead of him.
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