Considering the landscape of modern popular entertainment, where nostalgia seems to be the main motivator for so many, LandLocked couldn't really be more timely. Because it's all about nostalgia, all about the allure, and danger, of past memories. It's a lo-fi, low-budget film made by a family who all play various roles both behind and in front of the camera, and it's quietly brilliant in how it does so much with so little.
Mason (Mason Owens) is visiting his childhood home before it is due to be demolished. It is a place full of many wonderful memories, but it's also the place where his father died. Looking around the place, Mason soon finds an old video camera that doesn't appear to show him what should be visible in the viewfinder. It is showing him the past, and the past is a land that Mason starts to enjoy exploring. In fact, he may even prefer the past to the present.
There's not too much to say about LandLocked, not on the surface anyway. It clocks in at an economical 75-minute runtime, the acting from Mason Owens is pretty good, but not great, and the slight premise makes the whole thing very much a love or hate experience. I would also advise anyone seeking this out as a decent horror choice that it's not really a horror, although there is a kind of existential dread creeping throughout a lot of the runtime.
Where LandLocked impresses most, however, is just beyond the edges of the frame. It's almost in line with any traditional time travel movie that forces viewers to question what they would do if they had the power to go back and try to change key events in their own lifetime. Almost. It's definitely a warning though, a call to those who stop themselves moving forward because of being far too hung up on their past. Okay, we don't all see those memories play out as literally as this main character does, but the end result can be the same.
I am not sure if we will see many more features from writer-director Paul Owens (although he has been involved with a number of TV and documentary projects over the past 15+ years), but if he can come up with another way to use his family and resources this well then I will be keen to see it. While this will be a bit too quiet and technically crude for many people, those who can see beyond the limitations may end up loving it as much as I did. That's a match of content and form that feels seriously ironic in a way that isn't lost upon me, considering how the enjoyment and satisfaction from it derives from looking beyond the relatively small boundary of whatever screen you end up seeing this on.
Incredibly memorable for all the right reasons, I implore patient and adventurous viewers to give a bit of their time to this. And please let me know if you end up agreeing with my appreciation of it.
8/10
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