Solid effort that prompted a lot of odd extremist reactions

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2019)

I'm amazed how polarizing this film apparently was (I guess I'm one of the last to see it for the first time). I guess I'm one of the few who didn't think it was so amazing, but didn't hate it either. It is not without flaws. More time should have been spent on character development/interaction and yeah, I couldn't really buy the disappointing and implausible ending which people claim they "knew" ahead of time (suurre you did), but it wasn't so terrible. And I was in fact glad as it unfolded that it wasn't a silly "thriller/horror" flick as I feared it might be and the final ending it didn't stop the film from being well worth the watch overall. The acting (esp Howard and Brody) is excellent, and they did an excellent job of having people sound and act like people in an isolated village of the (earlier, I think, not late) 19th century probably would have...which is extremely rare. If I had a nickel for every period piece where the people talked and acted more or less like people of today, eliciting an eye roll and "let's see what else is on" from me, I'd be rich. That alone deserves huge props. And the directing and cinematography was very good as well. In short, not perfect, but still a good effort.