Written and directed by Alexander McGregor Birrell, co-written by leading actor Joshua Tonks, a thriller writer (Tonks) finds his story coming to horrifying life when a mysterious drifter (Jay Clift) arrives at the door of his isolated cabin.
The opening to The Latent Image feels like a classic plot of cinematic history, a writer getting caught up in his own work, fear becoming real, lines becoming blurred. It creates a haunting, isolated and tense atmosphere, while holding onto a subtlety. It also does a good job of capturing satisfying red flags but while the opening is strong, the story slowly becomes theatrical and begins to try much harder than it needed to.
While it initially takes on the feel of a thriller, the perspective shifts and becomes voyeuristic which clashes. There’s a growing sentimentality or softness and it holds a desperate nature to its sexuality which throws off the atmosphere. The underlying foundation works well but it doesn’t leave itself open to opportunities, it follows a simple path. It’s conflicted between that voyeur style and a more traditional thriller, and sadly only one of the two works in its favour.
Another issue which complicates things further is the development of its leading character, while Tonks initially taps into the typical writer feel and captures that sense of curiosity and creativity, that eventually gives way to an almost cheesy personality. He does still portray a good amount of emotion and tension but the dialogue and overly sentimental edge to his character fight against that. Whereas Clift is nicely consistent, he captures that mysterious feel you’re looking for, he’s unpredictable and has plenty of dark potential. He ticks all the boxes and that’s exactly what the story needs.
The Latent Image starts out well but starts to crumble in its latter moments. It follows the playbook a little too well for the most part, and when it doesn’t, things get messy in the wrong way. It struggles with wanting conflicting things, the overall style and direction lean towards an intimate, tense thriller but the tone of the dialogue and performances go for something erotic that feels out of place. There’s something intriguing to it and it’s worth watching but it couldn’t quite manage to smoothly blend everything together.
FilmCarnage.com 