It happens way too often. A person with a limited amount of experience takes on the monumental task of not only directing a feature film but also writing the script. Seasoned directors or writers can get away with taking on the double duty, but without the background, a project often either falls apart in story or design.
In the case of "Body at Brighton Rock," writer/director Roxanne Benjamin was wise enough to capitalize on the beautiful forest landscape that serves as the backdrop. The rolling hills and valleys of green are a canvas that is almost strong enough to distract from the film's writing woes. Almost is the key word.
"Body at Brighton Rock" follows Wendy (Karina Fontes), a slightly befuddled part-time summer employee at a state park. She's only been trained to pick up trash and do jobs close to the main camp but, in a bit of illogical writing, Wendy ends up traveling one of the park's trails to put up new fliers for campers and hikers.
Benjamin's script starts with two big negatives. The writer/director is in such a rush to get Wendy into the woods, there is little time setting up who she is away from the job. A deeper background would have been a major bonus, especially when the production finally gets to its forced ending. All that's really known about Wendy is she has trouble getting to work on time.
And, while the point is made that the workers trade jobs, no one would have allowed Wendy to keep going into the woods once the switch was discovered. The park has some type of hierarchy, but it appears and disappears.
Once the manipulation is over, Benjamin begins to bank more on the scenery than the story. There are endless scenes of Wendy walking up hills and down hills and up hills and down hills. She does stop to eat a snack and check her map, but a huge hunk of the film is more of a commercial for hiking boots than telling the tale.
Eventually, Wendy comes across a dead body. She contacts the main station only to discover it is way too late in the day to send out a rescue party and Wendy needs to stay near the corpse to protect what may or may not be a crime scene.
After several slow passages of Wendy preparing for the night with the body, Benjamin tries to crank up the suspense with a few spooky noises and the overactive imagination of the park employee. All this leads to an ending that would have been a better payoff if the writing up to that point had been smarter and crisper. The attempt at a psychological twist never fully manifests because there's no solid foundation.
Part of the problem is while Fontes does a passable job in playing Wendy, she never finds the level of internal terror that would have been the big selling point. Benjamin worked with Fontes on "Southbound," but that's not reason enough to put her in the position of trying to pull off what is essentially a one-person performance. Fontes needed more performers around her to help distract from some of the weaknesses she shows along the acting trail.
A more seasoned actor would have turned every second in the dark into the feeling of standing at the edge of a horror abyss. That would have helped built the emotional elements to such a fury that when the ending is finally reached, there is both a sigh of relief and a scream of shock. The script leaves the beginning, middle and end of "Body at Brighton Rock" flat.
