The Long Walk: NZIFF Review

Meditative, and almost soporific, filmmaker Mattie Do's Laos-set thriller about one man walking back through his timeline is filled with mystery and atmosphere.

It begins with a man harvesting scrap and trading it for credits to a chip in his arm, and builds to a complex story about forgiveness, fate and family - as well as ghosts.

The Long Walk defies easy explanation and confounds immediate examination of what's transpiring.

But what Mattie Do commits to screen, thanks to an oddly aloof leading man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, whose facial lines betray every ounce of his existence) is something deeply thoughtful and frustratingly slow with answers.

That said, its rhythms are to be relied upon and weighed into as the meandering narrative unwinds. 

Beautifully lensed and sparsely shot, The Long Walk's central performances are what give it its indefinable edge, and deliver its benefits to the screen. In Chanthalungsy, the camera has found a wearied man, contemplating his errors and trying to correct some of his ways as the tangled time lines unfold.

Not everything is successful in The Long Walk, but if you take a step back, there are plenty of joys - and discussions - to be had within.