Kaaterskill Falls

Starring:Hilary Howard, Anthony Leslie, Mitchell Riggs
Director: Peter Olsen (II), Josh Apter
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Description

commentary, 5.1, deleted scenes/bloopers, originial trailer, photogallery

Customer Reviews:

A film that made me think.......2005-12-30

"Kaaterskill Falls" proclaims itself to be low budget from moment the `Low Fi' logo appears on the screen, and it doesn't take long to realize that this film was made on a shoestring by Hollywood standards. Yet, despite this - or maybe even because of this - there's an intimacy in this film that drew me in and made me feel like a voyeur. When we meet Ren and Mitch, a sophisticated New York couple driving somewhere in rural Upper New York state in the early spring (the grass is green but the trees are leafless), we are sitting in the back seat of their car struggling to eavesdrop on their plans for the weekend (we later learn that they are "trying to make a baby"). Picking up the hitchhiker, Lyle, doesn't seem like a smart thing to do, especially when he turns out to be rather truculent. But when Ren and Mitch invite him to stay in their rented cottage, I found myself shouting "Don't do it!"

We are present at an improvised dinner that evening with Lyle, Ren, and Mitch. The presumably unscripted conversation meanders in several not very significant directions. Lyle's big complaint is about the incursion of cell phone towers in his beloved woods; perhaps by extension he laments also the incursion of the cell-phone-bearing city boy, Mitch. As the evening wears on, stereotypes are broken: the rural Lyle is savvy in the kitchen with Pasta Puttanesca, but fails miserably at making a fire, which the gentrified ex-boy scout, Mitch, gloatingly teaches him to do. Beyond the words, however, can be sensed the growing attraction between Ren and Lyle, an attraction not lost on Mitch.

Surely it cannot have been a case of sloppy movie-making that the next day, when Lyle agrees to lead the couple on a hike to Kaaterskill Falls, the formerly-barren trees are in full leaf? Can their lush green canopy be a proxy for the unfolding passions of the three characters, long curled up inside tight buds within them? Symbolic or not, something base and primitive suddenly commandeers the characters' instincts and commands their actions with shocking results. Or was it all a dream? Whatever it was, this film stayed with me and kept me pondering for the next twenty-four hours. And I like a film that makes me think.

Kaaterskill Falls--------I'll watch it again & again.......2005-05-21

The movie previews on Sundance got my attention instantly. The atmosphere of the characters driving to their anticipated weekend at Brookside Cottages through the gloomy countryside --along with the intriguing music-- is absolutely captivating. If a movie doesnt get my attention within the first 5mins I'm changing the channel. This movie had me sitting still for the entire showing.The characters are so real. People that you would know on a day to day basis. I was so moved that I plan on possibly taking some time to visit Brookside Cottages in NY being that I live in PA. I taped the movie the next time Sundance ran it & have watched it several times since. I wouldnt believe any of the negative reviews that are posted on this site. They obviously were written by negative people that have issues in their life beyond the movie!!! Watch it with an open mind & you'll truly enjoy every aspect of it. Im planning on watching it again tonite. It's truly well worth the 86mins of your time.

Great premise, great beginning, great development...and then.......2005-04-02

Here's a low budget indie shot in upstate New York with no actual written script, similar (from that angle) to Blair Witch Project, but significantly more intelligent than BWP. The premise is fine, hardly original, but a strong plot device--couple picks up hitchhiker. The beginning of the film is also strong; we see the couple and how they relate to each other and then catch a brief glimpse of the hitchhiker. The development is also really well done--that is, the movement of the characters in their shared situation after introducing them at the beginning.

The ending is a huge letdown.

Let's focus on the development--without revealing anything that would constitute a spoiler. The couple, Mitchell and Ren, are on their way up from NY City to the Catskills to get away from things. They pick up a burly hitchhiker, Lyle, who's quiet and drop him off soon enough at a motel, which he requested they do. Then he shows up again; supposedly the motel is full up. Is it really? We don't really know. They take him in.

What makes the development so strong is that the writer-directors do know something about the psychological subtleties of behavior and they do a great job displaying them as we move from the beginning through the denouement of the film. The interplay between Mitchell, Ren, and Lyle is very skillfully handled, which is what makes the first three quarters of this film so good--really good, in fact.

It would be a misconception to think that this is a typical "third person threatens couple" as in Dead Calm or Knife in the Water (Polanski) or a bunch of other films. This is, in some ways, much subtler than that, and that's what makes it all the more disappointing when a shocking ending occurs that is much too jarring to be credible and to mesh with the first three quarters of the film. This is really too bad, because I was really hooked up until then and when this climactic event happens, my rapture dribbled away into mush.

Cynics might say that the ending was done because the filmmakers were running out of money and/or film stock, or even patience with the entire project. It's possible to understand the origin of the ending shocker--i.e., why it happens--but the viewer really has to be able to make forced connections to buy into it and those connections should not be forced, but instead be natural. The only way the connections could have been natural is if the characters--especially one in particular--was revealed much more to have a mean streak, and that specific aspect of the character's personality is not developed anywhere near enough to make the ending believable. Hence the complete non-credibility.

The cinematography is excellent, the setting is truly beautiful--the title location in particular--and the actors are competent enough, as is the script. Until the completely out of whack ending.

I would look forward to other work from the same filmmakers; my guess is that their next effort will be stronger and more consistent.

Horrilble!.......2005-01-02

They kept playing this movie on Sundance just like they keep playing those annoying commercials for products on late night infomercials. I watched it in bits and pieces and I can't recall a more worthless film. I've seen episodes of the OC with better talent, direction and dialogue.

ATTACK OF THE SMOKE FIENDS.......2004-07-19

They kept showing this movie on the Sundance Channel so I decided to watch it late one night. This movie is the biggest heap of crap I have ever seen. Extremely bad acting, absolutely no plot and features some of the most boring, drawn out scenes ever filmed with even worse dialogue. While a movie like Elephant features the same things, eventually all the parts of the puzzle come together in one dramatic resolution. Kaaterskill Falls leaves viewers empty and befuddled by what has just taken place on screen--thats if the viewer hasn't changed the channel or fallen asleep by then, which 99% most likely will. The only redeeming quality of this film is the cinematography and on-site location.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Dragon Ball Z - Kid Buu - Vegeta's Plea

Jethro Says Bull'cks To Europe : Video

Last Call at Maud's (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Japanese Judo Masters - d

Goodness Gracious Me / Indian Special