“WaterWalk” re-opens the Rosebud
Reopening the Rosebud this weekend, "WaterWalk" is an ambitious film featuring the talents of many Milwaukee locals, but its problems are too numerous to ignore.
After six long months of closed doors and still popcorn poppers, the Rosebud Cinema in Wauwatosa is relighting the marquee for its grand reopening this weekend with a screening of the family adventure film WaterWalk.
Shot all over the midwest, Waterwalk features the talents of many Milwaukee locals as well as a few notable Milwaukee landmarks. The film has high aspirations and a low budget, and it should be praised for its can-do approach. But ultimately it falls short too many times to ignore. I really wanted to like this film, but I couldn’t get over its amateur delivery.
Both men have plenty of soul searching to do, which makes them ripe for the film’s attempt at contemplative drama. Steven has recently lost has job as an obituary writer for the newspaper (despite being awarded the much coveted Obituary Writer of the Year award, or the “Obi” as those in the biz call it), and Justin has been seriously negligent in his babysitting duties. After a school project leads Justin to Marquette and Joliet’s explorations, the two men decide to leave their cares on the shore and set off on a family bonding adventure.
The two-hour film suffers from pretty much every low-budget problem you can imagine, and some shortcomings that aren’t budgetary. The film is too long and paced poorly, the acting is overly dramatic and wooden, and the editing operates on the principle that every cut must be awkward. The most glaring flub, or series of flubs, is the muddled, buzzing, and generally unclear audio. The problematic audio becomes extremely distracting and distancing from the harmonious world the film attempts to create.
But the film isn’t entirely without charm. Director/star Robert Cicchini, who had a walk on role in The Godfather: Part III, does a much better job in front of the camera than behind it and manages to tap into real human emotion from time to time. The sprawling, multi-state scope of the film is also admirable given the film’s budget, and affords some truly beautiful images of the midwest. But that, ambition and our natural tendency to root for the underdog aren’t enough to make WaterWalk more than a noble but lost cause.
Movies
-
Milwaukee Film Festival Returns in April
Mar 27th, 2024 by Sophie Bolich -
Nina Simone’s Summer of Soul
Nov 29th, 2022 by John Sieger -
The Surprise Pick for Best Picture
Mar 22nd, 2022 by Dominique Paul Noth