Indie Releases: Ice Blue (2019) - Reviewed

As a winner of the 2017 LA Femme International Film Festival for Best Feature Director, Sandi Somers has certainly made a name for herself with her feature directorial debut, Ice Blue.  An intimate, contemplative coming-of-age thriller, the film is a captivating exploration of family strife and female self-discovery.

Arielle (Sophia Lauchlin Hirt) is a home-schooled teenager being raised by her single father (Billy MacLellan) in a remote farm town.  Little is known about Arielle’s estranged mother Maria (Michelle Morgan), whom she asks her father to see for her birthday that year.  When she actually gets her wish, more questions begin to surface than answers, and her relationship becomes progressively strained with her father.  All the while, Arielle becomes romantically involved with Christian (Charlie Kerr), a local juvenile delinquent living with his aunt, resulting in the girl learning more about her family’s shrouded history when she meets some of his classmates.  Conflict and darkness engulf Arielle as the past comes back to haunt her, and her nightmares become a reality.

Ice Blue is a well-crafted film from beginning to end.  Shot in anamorphic, the cinematography of the wilderness is majestic and stunning, with its rich colors giving the film a polished look.  The camera work and shot compositions are thoughtfully done: the handheld and travelling shots are appropriately dispersed, and long shots are used intelligently to distance the viewer at all the right times.  More impressive than those are the times the camera decides to hone in on the film’s inherent intimacy, capturing small moments in the life of Arielle in an effortlessly naturalistic way that makes one feel like they’re part of this broken family.  

The actors do an excellent job of bringing this small story to life.  Sophia Lauchlin Hirt shines in the leading role, displaying both inner strength and outer turmoil in a way that makes her empathetic and engaging to watch.  Billy MacLellan proves to us that he is a loving father, devoted to his daughter’s wellbeing, all the while trying to move forward with his personal life after his relationship with his ex-wife soured.  The effective screenplay helps to propel these actors into great performances that make their relationships believable and compelling to watch.   

The only major issues prevalent in this film are its occasionally meandering pacing and the “twist” ending.  The 1 hour and 45 minute running time could have easily been tightened to 90 minutes without losing any major plot points, and might have made the film’s conclusion more impactful.  In sharp contrast to the rest of the film, the finale seems incredibly abrupt.  One part of the revelation we witness is glaringly predictable, while the more surprising aspect of it feels like a manufactured, disingenuous way to wrap this heartfelt story.  It does not flow organically and aggressively forces all of the loose ends together like an afterthought, leaving an unsatisfying tarnish to an overall satisfying production.

Nevertheless, Ice Blue is a worthwhile endeavor from a talented director that shows a great deal of promise.  For her first feature film, Sandi Somers manages to tackle the tale of a family’s dark history with an attention to detail that many more seasoned film directors lack.  While this thriller isn’t consistently thrilling, it is a beautifully somber piece that captures the complexities of teendom and strained family dynamics with enough aplomb to be worth examining.

--Andrea Riley