1922 is the motion picture adaptation of a Stephen King novella with the same name. It tells the story of a farmer who chooses to kill his wife with the help of his son for land property control. What the duo faces after committing the crime forms the crux of this horror drama.
Prime highlight here is of course the production value. The film's look, setting, lighting, typography, colours, costumes, sound design, prosthetics and makeup effects are two thumbs up! Ben Richardson's cinematography, with his haunting push-ins, is world class! Mike Patton's unique score of trying to musically explain the protagonist's state of mind and disturbing distortions are well done! Performances wise, the one who steals the show is Thomas Jane. His accented speech is addictive to listen to!
Ultimately, 1922 deals with the mental health deterioration of a man who's facing psychological and physical repercussions of his wrongdoing. It's a lot about what's going on inside the protagonist's mind. While at times we could clearly see how the thoughts of pulling off a crime is soaking in his head and how the guilt of it slowly takes charge of his own conscience after said act, not much of it translates effectively through visuals. This would have been a gripping tale to explore in the form of a novel, but a movie needs visual images to communicate. Rats alone aren't threatening or compelling enough!
Also, from the very beginning, it's hard to believe that Wilf (Thomas Jane) and Arlette (Molly Parker) are husband and wife. There's so much of hate brewing inside both of them, but what's the root cause of it? Instead of kicking off by narrating the setup, the story could have established their relationship and explored the conflict between them from scratch before gradually cranking up the hatred by notches. Since the murder happens at Plot Point I, the feature climaxes early! From then onwards, there's not much options left for the plot to go. Sure, the murder scene is decent, Sheriff's investigation is exciting a little and the son's relationship issue brings about excellent drama, but these are only on the floor level. Moving the manslaughter event to the Midpoint would have served the film loads better. With that being said, the couple of young kids turning into sweetheart bandits and eventually dying is a sad, sad, tragic fate!