Cold Weather (2010)

Cold Weather: Directed by Aaron Katz. With Cris Lankenau, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Raúl Castillo, Robyn Rikoon. A guy who moves back to Portland, Oregon becomes involved in the mystery of his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance.

“On one hand, a local guy came back to Portland and made a feature film set in the city I live in and love; he made it on a low budget, wrote it and directed it himself, got it made and *released*! (And Portland looks gorgeous in the film.) This is an impressive achievement any filmmaker should be commended for. Many aspiring filmmakers never get their film finished let alone released.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the other hand, the film is woefully lacking in basics like character development and an interesting story. Many plot points simply donu0026#39;t ring true or seem plausible; even character interactions seem forced and a bit scripted, giving the audience precious little to relate to or care about in these people; weu0026#39;re almost *begging* for something to latch on to as we watch the film, but thereu0026#39;s almost nothing. The dialog is usually wooden and forgettable, and itu0026#39;s hard to see how it advances the story much or helps us understand the relationship between the characters (or makes us laugh). And thereu0026#39;s rarely any tension between characters (hint: *conflict* in movies is interesting!). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI get that it wasnu0026#39;t supposed to be a thriller but it isnu0026#39;t effective as a u0026quot;relationship filmu0026quot; either. Too much u0026quot;reading between the linesu0026quot; and u0026quot;willing suspension of disbeliefu0026quot; is required. u0026quot;Cold Weatheru0026quot; kind of plods along to an unexpected conclusion, making us wonder what kind of movie it *could* have been. Unfortunately, it compares poorly to similar films made on a low budget by young directors.”