The movie started out pretty good. A little slow but the dialogue was good. I really enjoyed the character of the officer - his philosophical, Shakespeare quoting personality was quite fun. But, the movie totally lost its way when it came to the couple meeting and falling in love. For some reason, the filmmakers decided viewers didn't need to hear dialogue between them and chose to just have violin music as the background of their entire story. You get the gist of their story but miss out on the way they speak and interact with each other. So, it feels like an entirely different movie that what it was in the beginning. And the movie kind of rambles along to the end. It is a shock to see how the pastor is really killed. I mean jaw-dropping, but the movie just feels kind of lost after this. Like they're not sure how to finish it up. The majority of the actors were good, characters likeable (except the victim who is really despicable) the cinematography is good, too. But the way the story is put together is convoluted. Sad because it could have been really good.

In the Ohio River region of southern Indiana, three people's lives intersect after the death of a hypocritical pastor: A hardworking logger from a struggling family, a Department of Natural Resources officer looking for more action and a grieving widow.

"Timbertown" (2019) is a psychological crime drama Indie reminiscent of the tone of "Winter's Bone" (2010), albeit not as dismal due to its inherent spirituality linked to the book of Ecclesiastes. There are even flashes of low-key humor. Similar flicks include "The River King" (2005), "Snow Angels" (2007), "Frozen River" (2008), "The Drowning" (2016) and, in some ways, "Rust Creek" (2018).

Such movies deal with the mundaneness of life in rural areas of the Midwest or Eastern America with usually a crime element; but they all depict the tedium of everyday life and the testing of character in one hardship or another. I point this out because some viewers might not appreciate the realistic, even tedious portrayal of everyday life.

This one's refreshing because, while it honestly illustrates the challenges of life that we can all relate to-providing for your family, seeking respect or love, the pursuit of meaning, grief, the burden of guilt and need for redemption-it never descends into unrelenting bleakness, like "Winter's Bone" and bits of "Snow Angels."

There's an artistic flashback sequence in the second half that's done to classical music with no dialogue whatsoever. Although it's arguably overlong, it's well done and I didn't have a problem with it. The sequence is creative and smacks of originality, but I couldn't help think of bits in "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Watchmen," although in those movies the sequences aren't flashbacks and they're shorter.

The film runs 1 hours, 30 minutes, and was shot in southern Indiana not too far from the Ohio River and, specifically, Washington County (which is a 20-25 minute drive from Louisville, Kentucky, to the southeast).

GRADE: A-/B+

It's horrible. I only watched about fifteen minutes and had to call it quits. The two guys in the gas station was the final straw. They were eating scrambled eggs........in a gas station. Notice the line about "blue blazes." That doesn't make any sense!