Halfway through "Cold Brook," when I realized that there were no bad guys (so far anyway), I felt myself relax and start thinking about that. No bad guys. William Fichtner gives us a world where people have a natural faith in each other.
We've come to expect conflict in movies, but if "Cold Brook" has a theme, it is trust. It's the foundation of every relationship. Even when an elusive man (Harold Perrineau) is seen prowling the college's museum after hours, the two custodians, Ted and Hilde (Fichtner and Kim Coates), pursue him mainly out of curiosity, not any dark suspicion, and the prowler's situation is such that they help him borrow (not steal) what he needs from a museum display case to answer some fateful old questions.
Ted and Hilde are not only colleagues and best friends but next-door neighbors and family men. Their marriages are strong, with kids who have the most routine problems-- like stubbornness and laziness and tests graded C+. Both husbands breakfast together at a diner, and hang out with a gang of blue-collar buddies, all of which is fine with the wives. Even when their absences become more frequent and lengthy, and they seem distracted, their wives show concern, but there's no nagging, no worry that the men are straying.
I enjoyed every minute of "Cold Brook," up to and including the point when the zealous college cop (Brad William Henke) goes after them for presumed theft. A bad guy after all? Or is Fichtner testing me as a viewer: can I trust that human virtue really will prevail? I didn't fail, but I wouldn't give myself more than a C+.
We've come to expect conflict in movies, but if "Cold Brook" has a theme, it is trust. It's the foundation of every relationship. Even when an elusive man (Harold Perrineau) is seen prowling the college's museum after hours, the two custodians, Ted and Hilde (Fichtner and Kim Coates), pursue him mainly out of curiosity, not any dark suspicion, and the prowler's situation is such that they help him borrow (not steal) what he needs from a museum display case to answer some fateful old questions.
Ted and Hilde are not only colleagues and best friends but next-door neighbors and family men. Their marriages are strong, with kids who have the most routine problems-- like stubbornness and laziness and tests graded C+. Both husbands breakfast together at a diner, and hang out with a gang of blue-collar buddies, all of which is fine with the wives. Even when their absences become more frequent and lengthy, and they seem distracted, their wives show concern, but there's no nagging, no worry that the men are straying.
I enjoyed every minute of "Cold Brook," up to and including the point when the zealous college cop (Brad William Henke) goes after them for presumed theft. A bad guy after all? Or is Fichtner testing me as a viewer: can I trust that human virtue really will prevail? I didn't fail, but I wouldn't give myself more than a C+.