“Lost on a Mountain in Maine”: A Simple Story Told Well

Lost on a Mountain in Maine is a stylish true-story thriller that you can watch with the kids around, and the older ones might even join you.

Among the film’s many virtues is its straightforward narrative, communicated in its title. A father takes his sons hiking, they get separated in a storm, and Donn, one of the sons, becomes lost on a mountain in Maine. The film chronicles Donn’s efforts to survive and his family’s effort to find him.

The film is a two-hander. On one hand, you’ve got Donald Fendler, played by Paul Sparks, who you might recognize from House of Cards or Boardwalk Empire. Fendler plays a tough dad whose fierce dedication to his kids’ well-being and survival comes out in rough demands and tough-it-out teaching. Sparks plays the deeply good and deeply flawed father with a nuance and strength of any of the best acting performances of the year.

On the other hand is Donn played by Luke David Blumm. Blumm has been collecting increasingly larger roles for the last five years, and he proves himself more than up to the challenge here. The subtext of Donn’s attempt to survive is how it relates to his attempt to heal the relationship with his father. And since there’s little dialogue to communicate those beats, Blumm’s acting needs to carry the day. It’s a lot to ask for a child actor, but he pulls it off with a stillness that is usually reserved for more mature performers.

As the days tick by with Donn missing, the film manages to continue to raise the stakes. Caitlin Fitzgerald who plays Ruth, Donn’s mother, anchors the rising emotional beats, whether in calling newspapers across the nation or in refusing to believe he was yet dead. The film utilizes archival interviews of the people involved in the search and rescue to punctuate important moments of the film. I’m not sure that the idea works; it takes you out of the story, but it also emphasizes the “based on a true story” reality and tension of what you’re watching.

One of the great virtues of the film is that its characters are religious and live within a religious world without their faith being foregrounded. It’s rare to find a film that neither strips its characters of their faith nor makes it the only thing worth saying about them. In this film, faith simply exists. And ultimately, it’s the bonds of family that carry our characters through, and are worth fighting for.

The movie is full of rich colors, and its rural 1939 setting grounds the narrative without distracting from it. Andrew Kightlinger, who directed the film, has always had an eye for natural beauty in his projects. That comes through here as well. But this project should help establish him as a director who can be trusted to make the most of what he’s been given.

Lost on a Mountain in Maine does lose a little bit of momentum in the plot before we hit the climax, and the character growth does cross to sacharine a time or two, but given the ride we’ve been on, the film earns it. This movie doesn’t try to be too much. It’s not stretching for novel or transcendent insights. It’s simply a story told well.

I wouldn’t hesitate to watch this with almost any child. It is scary, and the storm scenes might frighten the youngest ones. Donn also spends a portion of the movie in just his underwear. It’s probably not bright or flashy enough for children younger than ten or so to really enjoy. And while the messages about the will to live are meaningful, they’re also not essential or particularly rare. This movie offers something rare: top-notch entertainment for adults and older kids that stays clean enough for younger ones in the room. It’s good, guilt-free entertainment.

Three and a half out of five stars. Lost on a Mountain in Maine will be released in select theaters on November 1, 2024.