Eden Log is a dark dark film. So dark in fact that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was shot in black and white. The chiaroscuro effect is striking at points, but there is a danger that everything just ends up wallowing in a sort of muddy dankness that, whilst very effective in conveying a general mood, isn’t that great at making anything make much sense simply because you cant see it. See, aside from the last minute or so the whole film takes place underground. This isn’t a sort of vast underground cavern like gringotts bank either, its a claustrophobic sort of place where steam punk kind of has a sordid relationship with an ancient cave, whilst a tree tries to get in on the action. This was the brief given to the art director. This is normally where I’d move onto the story, but really there isn’t a great deal of it here, any semblance of a three act structure has been deposed by a rambling (literally) quest from the bottom of the cave to the top with a vague bit of exposition at each level to help you (and the main character) piece the story together. Its pretty minimal stuff though, and this is fine, because its clear that the cave, and the creepy … things … are supposed to be the star of the show here, made all the more clear by the fact that the protagonist is about as charismatic as a rock, even when he picks up obligatory lady friend on the way. The cave though isn’t really that charismatic either, its nowhere near as charismatic as the cave in ‘Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ and its not even as charismatic as the cave in the film ‘The Cave’ and that film is certifiably awful. I mean…that cave is not very good either. Actually this is all unfair, the cave is fine, its not its fault, its a cave after all. The film is just a little bit too long for so much cave action which doesn’t really go anywhere, if it where a shorter film the atmospherics would have worked beautifully and the lack of any real storyline I wanted to engage with would have been ok. What would have been nicer though is if the pay off when we eventually reach the surface had been a little earlier in the film, the cave would have been an awesome first act. Anyway, don’t dismiss Eden Log, its a good atmospheric watch, its just cant quite live up to the promise of its setting. Oh and fair warning, if the end of this film doesn’t have you going
‘what…why?….just….why?….” then you are clearly more immune to awful CGI than I am.