You’ll Never Find Me
The rain comes down, battering against the roof and the windows of Patrick’s unit at the back of the trailer park, another sleepless night of listening to the gentle harmonies of love promised by the radio as he sits alone in the dark, a man of heavy thoughts interrupted by a knock at the door to which he barely reacts, as though it were almost expected, inevitable, even though it’s two in the morning.
A young woman, soaked by the storm, in bare feet having run from the beach where she fell asleep, or so she says, she’s a stranger in the area who just wants a lift to her hotel or the use of a telephone, Patrick saying unfortunately his car isn’t working, that the gates are locked after dark, that the nearest phone is too far to walk, attempting hospitality by offering her a towel, some hot soup, even though he is discomfited by her presence.
An Australian thriller directed by Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell, You’ll Never Find Me is a two hander of the dark hours before dawn when nightmare and unpleasant memories blend together starring Carnifex’s Brendan Rock as Patrick and Wolf Creek 2’s Jordan Cowan as his unnamed visitor whose story changes with each elaboration, Patrick aware of the inconsistencies and also that her face is strangely familiar though she denies ever having met him before.
Ostensibly told in real time for the most part, the evening unfolding in small talk and evasions as the two try to gain the measure of each other, while it allows the performers room to breathe and inhabit their characters it is also the downfall of a ponderous film which takes a very long time to achieve little, every action considered and pensive, every shot lingering twice as long as necessary to establish its modest point.
The script, also by Bell, delving deep into Patrick with insight and bitter honesty, he is a man of regrets and loneliness who spends his nights brooding in silence, trapped in reminiscences which haunt him and tormented by the children of the trailer park, but with much of the dialogue whispered it is sometimes more challenging to parse what is said than unravel the slim mystery which underlies the nocturnal visitation.
Not so much a minimalist slow burn as a soggy smoulder, when events finally do begin to take place which quicken the pace they are frustratingly under illuminated thanks to a power cut, but even in the dark the final scenes of You’ll Never Find Me are played with a grim conviction to create a tense if somewhat telegraphed conclusion, albeit one which could have been located an hour sooner.
You’ll Never Find Me will be available on Shudder from Friday 22nd March
