Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: K. Asher Levin, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
This thriller tells a wholehearted story about family and tragedy.
One year after a tragic road rage incident, a washed-up salvage worker, Scott Brennan (Thomas Jane, The Last Son, Murder at Yellowstone City) and his hearing-impaired daughter, Jane (newcomer Harlow Jane) take on a demolition job in the desolate New Mexico sprawl outside Las Cruces.
They work for a low-life businessman Victor (Emile Hirsch, Midnight In The Switchgrass, Force Of Nature).
It’s the kind of big money work Brennan has been desperate for, but when they arrive at the run-down building in the desert, they soon find out that the job was a set-up. Instead, Victor and his hot-headed girlfriend Lola (Liana Liberato) hold them hostage and force them to dig beneath the house, where a dangerous secret lies buried.
An on-screen chemistry is tangible between real-life father-and-daughter combination Thomas and Harlow. Now they must work together to outsmart their captors and survive the gruelling night. The widowed Scott and Jane struggle as a family. Jane hasn’t spoken since losing her mother. Scott fumbles with his sign language.
Emile has a unique appearance for a modern-day villain, but there’s a certain rapport between the villain and lead actor. Even the flow of emotional scenes is set at a good pace.
Director Levin says the film is “a love letter to the hard-boiled crime thrillers and Neo-noirs he grew up obsessing over”.
What is the relationship between Thomas and Harlow? If the answer is correct, you could be one of three winners to get a DVD of Dig. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 17 October 2022. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 18 October 2022.
- Dig has been launched on digital and DVD
