Heartland: Tatterdemalion

For tickets and show times, please click here.

Making a mystery that is consistently engaging from start to finish should always be the main priority, especially if your film’s goal is to create paranoia amongst the audience as they watch. Despite having great mystery examples in this current decade (David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift” come to mind), it’s a shame to see a film that can’t deliver a great mystery. Going through the Heartland film lineup, I was really hoping that Ramaa Mosley’s “Tatterdemalion” was going to be a hidden gem that delivers on a successful mystery. Instead, the film truly succeeds in showing the audience that even solid performances and pretty cinematography cannot save a mystery with no real payoff.

Before I get into the specifics, let me explain the plot. “Tatterdemalion” follows Levin Rambin as Fern, a stubborn army veteran that returns to her childhood home in the Ozarks to search for her younger brother. As she is trying to settle in and collect her bearings, she comes across a young boy named Cecil alone in the woods. Worried about the child, she takes the kid back to her home in hopes that she can help him. However, things start to get weird for Fern. She starts to get really sick and notices that Cecil is purposely keeping things from her. It also doesn’t help that the tale of Tatterdemalion gets introduced to her; a legend about a spirit that sucks the life out of the person who saves them from the forest. What’s even worse is that the spirit takes the form of a child.

Now with all that being thrown at Fern, a major question begins to form: is Cecil the Tatterdemalion? This question alone should be enough to keep the audience intrigued. Hell, even I was invested in that question when all I knew about the film was the story synopsis. Unfortunately, it all depends on execution and “Tatterdemalion” doesn’t stick the landing. Not only does this mystery not take center stage but it also narrows your view pretty early on. Instead of letting your mind go to endless possibilities as to where the mystery might lead, the movie makes it very apparent it’s either one answer or the other. This leads to a film that is not only easy to predict but also one that has no satisfying payoff whatsoever.

That being said though, there are things that I enjoyed about this film. I thought all the actors gave solid performances. The standouts were definitely Jim Parrack’s Mike (Fern’s love interest) and Kip Duane Collins’ Fig. Parrack did a great job with what he was given and Collins’ Fig was memorable in every scene he was in. Also, the film makes the Ozarks look beautiful. I was definitely impressed with how good the film looked for the majority of its runtime (the finale is a bit rough and shaky at times). Both the acting and cinematography were definite high points in a disappointing final product.

Overall, “Tatterdemalion” is a mystery film that isn’t worth seeing at a film festival. While I enjoyed its beautiful scenery and performances, the film stops being interesting when you realize the mystery at its core is not strong enough to hold up its 105-minute runtime. If you’re interested in seeing it in any way, I’d wait to see if any streaming service has it in a few months. It’s the perfect mystery to have in the background when there’s nothing else on.