A Dark Place

Secrets in a former steel town

In a small town outside Pittsburgh, an autistic trashman (Andrew Scott) is troubled by the death of a boy that he knew on his route. When he conducts his own guileless investigation it ruffles the feathers of certain people. What are they hiding? Bronagh Waugh plays his coworker, Denise Gough his ex-girlfriend and Michael Rose the Sheriff.

"A Dark Place” (2018), originally titled “Steel Country,” is an unhurried drama/mystery that well captures life in an eastern American town. It’s a low-key character study, social commentary and possible murder mystery. "Sling Blade" (1996) is a good comparison, but this is thankfully more succinct.

While it’s true that the protagonist’s amateur sleuthing acquires answers too easily, the story chooses to focus on the town atmosphere, the people and their relationships as opposed to excessive details of detective work, which works for me.

I was really appreciating this movie until the beginning of the last act when we are asked to buy something radical that Donnie does and, as far as I can tell, totally gets away with since it’s conveniently forgotten. It’s so ridiculous that I was hoping it was just a dream but, no, I guess it really happened. On top of this is the unsavory nature of the root issue and murky insinuations of why it’s condoned.

The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in the area of Griffin, Georgia, which is a half hour drive south of Atlanta and definitely looks like Western Pennsylvania.

GRADE: B-