Directed and written by Mick Davis, Walden chronicles the journey of a small town Stenographer, Walden Dean (Emile Hirsch), as he begins to spiral down a rabbit hole of evil, murder, and justice when he discovers a developing melanoma in his brain. 

As a Stenographer, Walden’s job is to record every word he hears from the town court. With this, Walden experiences a variety of heinous and despicable accounts. Walden describes how, as a stenographer, he can’t just hear and see. He has to feel every word. This engagement in his profession sensibly infects his state of being, combined with the melanoma, leading to Walden taking matters into his own hands.

Walden begins with a shaky opening. Plot threads are being strung all over the place, and it becomes hard to know where to look for the plot. However, what seems to be a fault is later revealed as an unintentional strength. I say unintentional, as the early plot threads are all demonstrated in a fashion that makes everything feel equally important, leaving the viewer lost. This confusion becomes a strength, as the added confusion of watching the film makes it easy to miss specific hints about the film’s mystery. Later, I discovered the final twist, which, as cliche as it is, was still satisfying as it was cathartic to be “got” in the way I was.

One thing I will thoroughly applaud is the set and prop design. Scenes never felt empty; there was always something there that helped convey the environment and atmosphere that Walden needed to make a scene.

With my commendations aside, Walden was a film I enjoyed, but there was something amiss. As I said, “eventually,” the film began its weakest with dialogue and background actors that worked against its quality. Emile Hersch’s performance of Dean Walden was immensely attributable to my engagement with the film and the performances of Detective Bill Kane (Shane West), Emily Duperon (Kelli Garner), and more. This attribution, however, was not shared by many others. Many actors often conveyed a lack of confidence within the film. There were dialogue and filmographic choices that did not sit well.

As I continued to watch, a divide was growing within me. Something was wrong with the writing of the performances. And yet, something about it was clicking. The whole experience was like riding an uncanny valley of a good film.

As with what I mentioned, it was easy to get lost in Walden, partly due to inconsistent and quick pacing. Scenes were jumping out of the blue, which I appreciated quite a lot, as a sex scene was skipped, something that I did not feel I needed to see, and thankfully, I did not have to. The pacing did not pull me out, like some other films I had reviewed in the past. However, there was still something off about how the pacing was handled that kept me riding the uncanny valley. Additionally, following the pacing, explosive emotional beats often came out of nowhere. Ultimately, I enjoyed Walden, yet I felt like I shouldn’t have.