The Dark End of the Street: It has the foundations to be a lot more intense
The paranoia of acts of violence becomes the backbone to a suburban community in the independent drama THE DARK END OF THE STREET.
Somebody is killing the neighbourhood pets, including a beloved cat of a lone woman and it prompts much reflection to a group of people, both old and new in the community who are very responsive and sensitive to what is going on. The lone woman connects for the first time to a black neighbour who has seen her for many years and the two bond over a glass of wine.
Another is a bar owner who invites a friend who is about to become a father to a party with some of his friends from the bar, one of two in the area. There are some skateboard-mad teenagers who also have time to jam in a band they have formed. A Korean family with a daughter who owns a budgie is also indirectly affected by the killing of the woman’s pet, having moved from the city to the area. However, the culprit is in the area still – and is determined to make his mark on the livelihoods….
THE DARK END OF THE STREET , directed by Kevin Tran, is a film which has been gaining praise at recent US film festivals. However, it does feel more of a drama than a dark coordinated noir and tends to focus on the interaction between the characters, rather than whether or not the pet killer is actually going to be the point of conflict for them. Even for a movie that clocks in at just over an hour, the film still seems a little unsure of the direction it wants to take and lacks a little bit of early suspense during the set-up of the situation.
Some characters are there all-too-briefly, perhaps as a red herring or two and there is much more to this story than is revealed on screen. Overall, despite some competent performances, the film feels a little underdeveloped and promises much more than it delivers.
It does have one neat pay-off based on the paranoia that the characters feel about the threat to the animals and it’s a shame that this was not developed further. There are finer examples of what happens in the underbelly of this type of community and THE DARK END OF THE STREET certainly had the foundation to be a lot more intense and shocking at its heart.
Still worth a look or two.
