The Timber - Blu-ray

Content: The Yukon Territory in 1898: the gold rush has turned the territory into an outlaw's paradise, including the ruthless Jebediah Seagrave (William Gaunt), who strikes fear among the territory's citizens. His sons Samuel (Josh Peck) and Wyatt (James Ransone), on the other hand, have tried to make an honest living with their mother (Maria Doyle Kennedy). But they haven't gotten rich doing so, which is why the bank is now threatening to take their house and their small piece of land. The only chance to avert this would be for the brothers to hunt down their father and collect the bounty on his head. Since Samuel and Wyatt have no emotional ties to their father, the choice isn't hard for them. But on the ride through the deep snowy territory becomes for the two not only a physical extreme experience. They must also face the demons of their past in order to win a battle that seems to have been decided long ago...

Shot in Romania, the low-budget Western drama The Timber is not necessarily light entertainment. Even the imagery, intriguing as it may be, is filled with a depressing dreariness that is also found in the story. The cold of the freezing Yukon winter seems to pour straight from the television into the living room at home thanks to the great camerawork, and you feel like you can relate in some way to the hardships Samuel and Wyatt must endure along the way. This lends the film an intensity that contrasts effectively with the extremely sustained pace of the production.

There's no denying, however, that the quiet staging, punctuated only occasionally by gunfights and similar action moments, the lack of stringent storytelling, and the paucity of dialogue make the film a somewhat unwieldy affair. Those expecting classic Western entertainment will probably cut their teeth on this gritty drama. In addition, some scenes give the impression of being unfinished, so that in the end you get the feeling that a few extra minutes would have done the film good to get a coherent overall picture. Still, if you can get into the somewhat idiosyncratic style and for whom the visual language is more important than the spoken words, you'll discover a truly special piece of Western cinema in The Timber.

The actors all deliver convincing performances, even if they don't get to do very much more than put on a stoic face and ride around or face their antagonists. However, former child star Josh Peck and James Ransone in particular fulfill their roles with extreme power despite pared-down facial expressions and sparse dialogue, making some of the more dramatic moments extremely engaging. The mixture of an interesting story, great camerawork, good actors and atmospherically dense production ensures that The Timber, as unwieldy as the film may be, has become well worth watching for lovers of sophisticated arthouse dramas, despite some minor weak points.

Picture + Sound: The fascinating landscape shots of the Yukon, for which snowy Romania was the inspiration, are shown off to excellent effect on the Blu-ray thanks to very high image sharpness and well-adjusted contrasts. The color scheme is kept rather subtle in view of the dominating white, but transports the very special atmosphere of the film very well into the living room at home. Many very quiet scenes determine the tonal events here. Therefore, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix does not offer any great surround fireworks. But the very well implemented ambient sounds (crunching of the snow, wind) and smaller sound effects such as gunfire ensure that now and then audible movement comes into the multichannel range. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, in addition to the trailer, there is a brief look at the shooting of two scenes, as well as an entertaining interview with Josh Peck and Elisa Lasowski. With a total running time of just under 15 minutes, this additional offer is a bit meager, but still worth watching!

Conclusion: The Timber is a depressing Western drama, which with its very worn narrative and its not quite stringent plot structure repeatedly defies the usual viewing habits, but exudes a certain fascination that is difficult to escape. No light entertainment, but for lovers of visually stunning arthouse fare definitely worth seeing. Especially the great landscape shots are very well accentuated on the Blu-ray. The bonus material is scarce, but worth watching. Given the difficult filming conditions in Romania, a more detailed making of would have been desirable. Overall, there is for it a satisfied: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp