Title: Long Lost
Rating: NR
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Starring: Adam Weppler, Catherine Corcoran, Nicholas Tucci
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

What It Is: Seth (Weppler) is surprised by an invite to the home of his long lost brother, Richard (Tucci). Right at their initial uniting something seems odd: Richard, extremely cocky, rich, and manipulative, and his charming, down-to-earth girlfriend Abby (Corcoran), are all too eager to make Seth stay despite their awkward behavior. Richard constantly berates Seth while Abby makes multiple advances towards him. Promised money and resources, Seth must decide if he will cut ties with his aggressive brother or continue the visit in this erotic thriller.

What We Think: Right off the bat, the film settles into a very slow, theatre-esque pacing. Once the scene continues with a conversation, then adds another element in order to attempt upping the intensity. Problem is, the conversation is repetitive, and this isn’t theatre. The first act strikes as, while not terribly performed, incredibly drab. Drab, stagnant camerawork, basic use of the location (that house you see in every film starring rich people), flat writing, and a simple setup that leads to a heavy bout of predictability. The worst of it, in my opinion, was the lack of cinematography, because, despite all the other elements considered, amazing cinematography would have helped tremendously. In that respect, the film, or the story at least, had potential in making more of a mark as a (more quirky) ‘thriller’. Instead, most of the runtime is focused on petty and awkward attempts at bonding between the three leads. It was as if it was written as more of a dark comedy, but the nuances were lost in translation as a forgettably suspenseful score strung over scenes of a character being annoyingly over-the-top over and over again. That’s the ultimate fatality. I was bored; I was cringing.

Our Grade: D+, While it wasn’t my thing, the third act may either make up a little bit for the rest of the film or make it even less credible. I’ll leave it up to you if you decide to see it. I can’t say I hate this film, as, as I mentioned, the acting isn’t the worst, and there’s a relative amount of production value to be appreciated (I guess). Put plainly, while it could’ve been something more trippy, this one for sure lost me from the start and never got me back by the end.