Mary lives in a small rural town, selling natural water from her farm well to local people. She is taking care of her father, who is weak after suffering a stroke years ago. Her ordinary life is interrupted by Cole, a guest whose car broke down while he was on his way to visit the Grand Salt Falts. Cole and Mary become friends, and he falls in love with her, but she is torn by her loyalty to care care for her sick father. Eventually, Cole returns to his ex-girlfriend and their son, while Mary walks down the beach.
"The Wake of Light" is a touching and honest, albeit conventional and overstretched independent little film about people at the crossroads in life. The maximum was achieved out of the two leading actors, Rome Brooks as Mary and Matt Bush as Cole, since their characters are refreshingly simple and kind people, and you enjoy being in their cozy company—actually, you like these characters so much that you wish they had more to do to shine in the movie, and had better written lines. The thing is, the storyline could have used a better written treatment, for a more versatile viewing experience, since the relationship between the two leading protagonists is thin, especially in the last 30 minutes which seem like one giant 'empty walk'. The loneliness of Mary is depicted neatly visually, by showing her often alone, such as the sequence where she sits in an empty church or rarely interacts with anybody else in the small town; the same was done with Cole in the wide shot where he is all alone in the countryside, observing the sunset over a hill, symbolically depicting also the slow ending of his hopes for a new chance. Despite the feeling that this could have worked much better as a short film, "The Wake of Light" has a wonderful mood and great cinematography which captivate the viewers.
Grade:++
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