Two women hiking through the desert to their possible freedom from a cult are confronted by the reality that leaving this cult may not be as simple as physically leaving it.
Written and directed by Chris Cullari and Jennifer Raite, The Aviary takes place mostly in the desert, following two women who may very well be completely lost in their escape or perhaps this being lost is supposed to stand for something more. Either way, the film doesn’t work all that well as. It’s a slow, extremely slow, escape from a cult film, a slow story of self-realization, and a story of women helping women that is also, you guessed it, slow. About a half hour in, the film feels very much like Gus Van Sant’s 2002 film Gerry. It’s a lot of nothing about not much. Yes, there are a bit more stakes here, but the film still feels quite empty at times. This is not exactly exciting stuff, the good ideas that are present here and there are just not enough to sustain the story, characters, and runtime. The story is something that could have been truly profound, a self-realization film where two women connect in their escape and make the most out of it to become better people. While there is some of that here, it gets lost in the desert like its protagonists.
The cast here is quite small at 4 people total, with 2 of them taking up most of the runtime. This cast is where things go right. Both Malin Akerman and Lorenza Izzo do quite well while walking around the desert, lost, hungry, with a little desperation and a little hope. The two of them create these characters who have been mistreated, who have been brain-washed, and who finally found the strength to leave. The way they play these characters is quite good and really helps save the film from a total borefest. Adding to their performances are Chris Messina and Sandrine Holt who both do ok, but don’t exactly steal scenes or anything like that. Once the film is over, Akerman and Izzo are the two the viwer will remember.
The cinematography by Elie Smolkin is very well done with some sequences looking stunning, showing the desert for what it is. However, as the script is limiting, so is the cinematography. There is only so much one can do with a film that uses a handful of locations, almost all in the desert, almost all around the same time of day. There are good images here, but eventually, they all become part of the long film that seems to last too long.
At 96 minutes, The Aviary loses steam and it becomes a bit bland, eventually just losing the interest completely. The lead performances are strong, but not quite enough to keep the attention for the whole runtime. There is something here, something that could have been quite powerful, but it seems quite lost in the desert, much like the film’s leading ladies.