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Loop Track (2023) is a New Zealand film that lands in the comedy/horror genre. Softly.
New Zealand filmmaking used to be cool thanks to Peter Jackson, Rhys Darby, Richard Taylor and Lee Tamahori.
Some might go so far as to include Deathgasm as part of the cool. Personally, I found it a bit too edgelord. Agree to disagree, but what we can all agree upon is that Taika Waititi got overexposed and kind of ruined Kiwis for everyone.
Along comes Thomas Sainsbury, a New Zealand actor/writer who appeared briefly in Guns Akimbo (which is also a bit too edgelord for my taste). Loop Track is Sainsbury’s attempt to climb the filmmaking ladder. He writes, directs and stars.
Loop Track is difficult to review without spoilers, but we will try our best…
Loop Track
The plot of Loop Track:
An introverted agoraphobic beta man heads out on the New Zealand hiking trails to escape his loser life. The outing turns into a fight for survival.
It is easy to see what Sainsbury attempts with his writing and direction. He wants to tell a boy-who-cries-wolf story that leaves the viewer in a state of ambiguity as to whether or not the main character’s paranoia is warranted or a sign of mental illness.
Sainsbury also tries to inject a dash of cringe humor into the situation, plus scares.
That is a lot of plates to juggle in a 90-minute film. One can’t say Sainsbury is totally successful. Much of the film is plodding and repetitive. Plus, Sainsbury’s character never fully makes the jump from pathetic to likeable.
Meanwhile, the humor is too subtle to cause any laughs.
It is only in the third act that Loop Track suddenly becomes an interesting story.
Looper Track
Look Track is small film. Aside from Sainsbury, it has only three other characters that affect the proceedings.
Tawands Manyimo (The Meg, The Rover) and Kate Simmonds (Credits) are a progressive couple that become hiking partners. Manyimo is a laidback, worldly man, and Simmonds is his hippy girlfriend who wants to pick flowers and take selfies.
Hayden J. Weal is the main co-star of the film. Weal did a bit of work on The Hobbit films. His character is an annoying blowhard who means well and is responsible for generating whatever humor Loop Track can muster.
Together, these characters form an Old Couple dynamic as they join up on the trails for a four-day journey through a wilderness park. They overnight at cabins along the way. Some plotwork is thrown in to create seeds of mistrust as Sainsbury becomes convinced the group is being followed. It is also revealed that Sainsbury hasn’t been sleeping and isn’t in the most healthy of headspaces. Yet, they all put on happy faces and heave ho.
Loop de Loop Track
Here’s where it gets tricky to avoid spoilers. We will have to give some stuff away. Too a degree, it is not a huge sin to talk spoilers. Loop Track is not a precious film. It is simply kind of neat in the third act.
Personally, I was tickled by the reveal because it is similar to a short story I had in the 2014 SNAFU Anthology from Cohesion Press. My idea took place in the Old West among calvary soldiers. Sainsbury does it in the New Zealand bush.
Little is shown, but the effects are practical and quite well done.
At that point, Loop Track manages to finally generate some momentum. It does not stick the landing, however. And it does not provide satisfying closure.
As I said before, it is simply kind of neat…
Fruit Loop Track
Films that capture magic in a bottle typically have some sort of extravagance about them, either in the action, writing, acting or filmmaking.
Loop Track does not possess that extravagance. Sainsbury had the right idea of trying to create a psychological stress zone for two acts until the third act catharsis, but he doesn’t have the chops to pull it off.
Loop Track is the kind of movie that someone like Fincher should try. Fincher does this stuff with human subjects all the time. He hasn’t done a creature feature since Alien 3. It would be fun to see him come back to the genre.
I somewhat enjoyed taking a walkabout with Loop Track, but I won’t loop back to it.
The post Streaming Review: LOOP TRACK (2023) appeared first on Last Movie Outpost.
