Uncle John

There's a lot to like about this movie.

Its deliberate pace will alienate some viewers. Others will appreciate the artful way the back-story is unveiled and the lack of up-front exposition. The performances are all excellent, but John Ashton steals the show as the title character. The direction and photography are fantastic as well.

I found the structure interesting, and was surprised at the some of the choices that were made. Many films follow different story lines and bring them together for a definitive conclusion. In Uncle John, the two story lines do pass by each other but they don't merge. And after their brief meeting, they go their separate ways.

I found the story following Ashton's character to be the more interesting to of the two and I believe a movie could have been successfully made using that storyline alone. Still, this film works and I will definitely check out Steven Piet's next.

If you do enjoy Uncle John, I would give this film a try:

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After reading the reviews (2 of them) and seeing very little negativity about this movie I watched it and happily enjoyed it.

Not really a mystery and for most it would be a bit on the slow side, but mature audiences that like a good story would enjoy this.

John Ashton of Beverly Hills Cop fame (enjoyed his acting ever since) holds the movie together well.

Some of the acting would be regarded by many as a bit amateurish and the movie definitely was shot on a very low budget, but it still holds together well.

Give it a try, you will not regret it.

This actually won an award? Of course, (for cinematography?!) at a small film festival where there isn't much going on. This film is basically about not much. Something about a murder? Maybe. We assume it's a murder but there is no evidence since the film opens with an ambiguous scene. And perhaps the whole film is ambiguous. It's never clear if the opening was a murder, it's never clear to Danny if his brother was murdered. It appears more like Dutch, the town's bully, was depressed and wanted to atone for his misdeeds and doesn't happen upon Uncle John but commits suicide and Uncle John covers it up. The lake was dragged and nothing was discovered. The lead suspect was a dead end. Ben's relationship with Kate is ambiguous. Is it romance or friendship?

This film spends most of the movie in limbo, not going anywhere. Like a sailboat with no wind, in dead calm. Ambiguous relationship/romance, ambiguous murder/suicide, ambiguous uncle (he has a hidden side), ambiguous writing, and more. Makes for a below average movie. It's one redeeming quality is the fairly good acting. John Ashton does a solid job of acting (not award-winning but quietly understated) and the young Ben and Kate (Alex Moffat and Jenna Lyng) are charming and have good chemistry. It has interestingly good intentions but just doesn't cut it. It's like the protagonist of the film, the youthful Ben, who is unsure of many things. It lacks confidence and closure. But it tries.

Which for me is tragic, since I tend to favor independent and international films, rather than the standard Hollywood fare. But this admittedly does not come close to many good films out there. If you skip this movie, you wouldn't miss anything. Real rating? anywhere from 4.7-5.4.

I watch this knowing nothing about it as I like to do with smaller, indie type films.I watched this expecting a horror movie, it isn't. The acting was fantastic, especially John Ashton who I hadn't seen since way back when he was in Beverly Hills! The pacing was slow but kept me glued the whole time. The sub story which runs along separately from the main story was great. Casting was perfect. Could quite easily pass as a Cohen Bros film, very Fargo-ish. The last 20 minutes are so tense my heart was thumping! Beautifully shot, I will be checking out the director's other work real soon and I just hope this gets a UK blu ray release. A real gem of a film that looks great, sounds great and shows yet again that you don't need £100 million to make a great film! Bravo!

Veteran character actor John Ashton ("Beverly Hills Cop" I and II, "Gone Baby Gone") is sublime as "Uncle John", a quiet pillar of a small farming community whose residents are blithely unaware how deep his still waters run. Deep and dark.

Seems that John has lost someone dear to him. And there are those who will pay for his pain. Dearly.

Alex Moffat and the stunning Jenna Lyng (a dead ringer for TV's Lisa Ling) are also quite good here as coworkers/burgeoning lovers Ben and Kate. The young couple have come a callin' on Ben's sweet Uncle John for a brief overnight visit. What they don't know about their kind and gracious host won't hurt these two.

Which is certainly a damn sight more than can be said for the poor bastard who dares cross this benevolent, yet unforgiving, curious country gentleman.