One of the first shots is a vulnerable body part lifelessly depicted under shallow water. Regarding Harbaugh: You can feel director Simon Fellows going for a “ Blue Velvet”-like feel early on. It’s mentioned more than once as a counterpoint to Harbaugh life. Plus, everyone loves the Steelers! Pittsburgh seems to be the big escape for folks who found a springboard to leave. The town’s economy is dying as slowly as the spirits of its denizens. “Or jumping in front of it,” she ominously adds. “Do you ever feel about jumping on, to see where it goes?” Donna asks Devlin of the train that runs through the town. I’ve avoided discussing the murder mystery thus far because it feels like such a callous afterthought, a grasp for Meaning in a film about a small town whose main characters feel trapped within its borders. Who can understand it?” Between this film and “ Us,” the Book of Jeremiah is making a real comeback.īut I digress. The one time Devlin responds with his own quote, it serves as the theme of “A Dark Place”: “The heart is deceitful above all things and without cure. Devlin appears to be in the beginnings of dementia-at one point, she tells her son that his deceased Dad is coming home soon-and she’s always quoting the Bible to him.
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When Devlin fails yet again to process the social cues Linda puts forth, her response is the film's best, most painful scene.ĭevlin also lives with, and cares for, his mother, reminding her to take her meds and always offering to roll her wheelchair in front of the TV before he heads out for work or play. He’s even stayed “faithful” to her despite her repeatedly telling him she never loved him in the first place.
Devlin still carries a torch for Wendy’s mother, Linda ( Denise Gough), with whom he had a drunken one-night stand.
He’s quite the doting father she adores him despite his penchant for embarrassing her as only uncool dads can. When not in the truck, Devlin spends time with his 11-year-old daughter, Wendy. The job is a grind, but its routine nature provides comfort for a man who uses repetition to find calmness. In the fictional small town of Harbaugh, Pennsylvania, Devlin’s a garbage man whose wisecracking partner, Donna ( Bronagh Waugh) constantly violates his intense sense of order. “A Dark Place” is most effective when following Devlin through the standard drudgeries of life.