WallDale

WallDale follows a community residing in the titular town, which is greeted by a new arrival. Things start to take a sinister turn on the same night of the arrival, causing discord in the community as the lives of the citizens are turned upside down. Not everything is as it seems in a town rife with secrets. Originally conceived as a mini-series, which is evident in its spanning character arcs and prolonged runtime, the piece is an audacious debut feature.

As the piece was originally intended as a mini-series, this is both a positive and a detriment to the overall experience, due to the fleshed-out characterisation of each player and the overly convoluted nature of the material. The editing, at times, can also suffer due to its episodic nature as it jarringly cuts from one scene to another. While its over two-hour runtime is welcomed and gives each character enough nuance for the viewer to care about them, the piece at times can feel jarring and difficult to engage with due to the plethora of themes and character arcs explored. Despite these flaws, the filmmakers make suitable use of their budget constraints, making the town of WallDale feel incredibly lived in with its sense of community and discourse. The piece consistently leaves the audience with a sense of dread in their attempt to decipher the central revelation. While the piece may be somewhat derivative of other crime mysteries, its sense of community built around the town of WallDale makes the experience grounded and utterly engaging.

Erica Porter’s musical score for the piece is endearing at times, and it evokes a sense of warmth as particular characters interact, while also offering sinister motifs during sequences of conflict. Joel Caborn, serving as the film's cinematographer, primarily shoots most scenes with fixed camera shots of characters within dialogue-heavy portions and switches to handheld during action scenes. The fight choreography is mostly impressive with its visceral and brutal intensity, despite the use of grotesque imagery, which feels questionable due to the budget. The use of shifting aspect ratios, however, is largely jarring and at times feels inconsistent with the material. While the piece takes a rather steady approach to establishing its characters, once the conflict hits the fan, the filmmakers keep the audience in a state of tension throughout the rest of the runtime.

What is perhaps most impressive about the piece is how the filmmakers blend tonal shifts, such as the coming-of-age aspects in the opening, with the more thrilling sequences in the third act. Whilst there isn’t a particular standout performance in the piece, the performances across the board are solid, with the cast creating a diverse plethora of characters in this ensemble. The chemistry between Violet Charlton in her portrayal of Eleanor and Molly Burke as Bella is astounding, despite their limited screen time together.

The central revelation is shocking and ultimately effective for the conclusion of the narrative. Sadly, the film slightly overstays its welcome as aspects of the conclusion meander to a grinding halt despite the third act being aptly engrossing throughout. However, the experience as a whole is still worthy of its efforts thanks to the sheer passion from the writer/director Matthew Cathcart, balancing its ambitious narrative structure and myriad of themes and characters.

WallDale is a solid debut feature from Matthew Cathcart, reworking a mini-series into a feature-length piece with an engrossing premise. Despite the material feeling familiar in its efforts from other crime dramas, using the setting of WallDale to its advantage separates it from mysteries that have been made before. Overflowing with dread and community, WallDale is a well-crafted piece of filmmaking.