“Nothing haunts like the past.” It’s a catchy tag line that attempts to sum up writer and director Michael Petroni’s new film BACKTRACK, but there more to this mystery/thriller than can be summed up in a single breath. What begins as a moody drama about a troubled psychotherapist quickly reveals itself as a deeper tale of supernatural intervention into the darker underbelly of human nature.
Peter Bower, played with wrenching emotional finesse by Adrien Brody, is struggling with the loss of his daughter while barely holding together his practice and his marriage. Bower blames himself for his daughter’s death, while not entirely clear on what happened exactly. When not in sessions with his own patients, Bower seeks counsel from fellow psychotherapist Duncan Stewart, played by Sam Neill, which only leads Bower further down the twisted rabbit hole that will be come a truly unnerving revelation.
BACKTRACK is a ghost story of sorts, but at it’s core, the film is a highly internalized story of a man thrown up against his own emotions, his own inner demons, perhaps manifesting as tortured apparitions, or perhaps fueling an unwelcome opening in himself to another level of percieving the pain and grief that surrounds him on a daily basis. Whichever it is, the film merely suggests the possibility and leaves the audience to interpret the events as they unfold through our own filters.
The story truly shifts gears into an engaging, gripping mystery once a teenaged girl named Elizabeth Valentine shows up outside Bowers practice, unable or unwilling to speak. This sets Bowers off on a mission to understand driven by his own lack of certainty. From here, the energy and pacing of the film picks up and never lets the viewer go, pulling us in closer by a narrow thread, one tiny hand over another as we grow closer and closer to the morbid truth that awaits Bower.
BACKTRACK is an atmospheric film, shot with the visual tone to match the looming dread and sense of endless loss. The film looks dark and decayed, strangled of vibrant colors and replaced with a multitude of richly depressing shades of black, blue and gray. There is a gothic element to the film’s palette that maintains the tone, which is crucial as the film’s 90-minute running time doesn’t waste a beat after the initially slow but short opening sequence.
Sam Neill is splendid, as he usually is, but in a rather limited use. His character has minimal screen time, but serves as a crucial element in developing the plot, on a several psychological milestones for Bower as he pieces together the shattered puzzle that is his memory of what truly happened to spark the series of unfortunate events in which he finds himself involved. George Shevtsov provides an understated but impressive performance as Bower’s father, while Chloe Bayliss’ performance as Elizabeth Valentine is overshadowed by a slight overuse of questionably less than stellar special effects, but the level of distraction is minimal in comparison to the overall enjoyment of the film.
A particular achievement goes to the music in BACKTRACK from Dale Cornelius, providing a thick, robust injection of moody atmosphere to the film that truly sells the darkness. The score grabs the viewer by the ears and forces us to sit up and take notice right from the opening credits. It makes a statement, declaring something bad will happen and you do not want to miss out.
Michael Petroni draws on our innate human nature, or ingrained need to witness the horrible things that happen in others’ lives as if that somehow means our own lives will be immune of such tragedy. Petroni’s screenplay is definitely deserving of Brody’s committed intensity. While there is a temptation to over analyze the story as an extension of another previous film from 1999, I encourage the viewer to let that thought pass and remain open to the less superficial nature of BACKTRACK, which still carries some surprises of it’s own.
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
BACKTRACK released in theaters and video on demand
on February 26th, 2016.
