As far as potent cinematic atmosphere goes “The Pale Blue Eye” has wintry style to burn (or rather chill in this case). You don’t so much watch this gothic murder mystery unfold so much as feel the snow falling on the characters and emaculate set design.
The year is 1830 and a grisly death by hanging has been committed on the grounds of the New York Military Academy, West Point. The powers that be are disgusted by the incident and decide to enlist the talents of local and retired detective Augustus Landor (an appropriately steely Christian Bale) to investigate. And when Landor takes on the case he soon comes to the conclusion that the death is most likely an in house murder. And also one in which mystical dark arts were involved. As Landor begins to question various officers he is approached by the intrigued cadet Edgar Allen Poe (played by a live-wire and most witty Harry Melling) who claims that the killer is a poet. And since most of the West Point elite want the case to be resolved quickly and with little interference, Landor decides to enlist Poe’s intelligent eagerness in gathering information from within the secretive Academy alumni to solve the murder.
Directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart,” “Out of the Furnace”) who invests his screen adaptation, (from the 2003 Louis Bayard novel of the same name, with the moody look and dark, hushed tones of a lavishly produced horror story the film moves gorgeously but rather gradually. Shot in and around various parts of southwestern Pennsylvania during the winter months of 2021 this is a handsomely mounted production worth seeing for the aesthetics alone. We feel as one with the 19th century as Landor does skulking about the likes of taverns, forest paths and candlelit corriders that could be suspects all their own. Also incorporating natural lighting, it’s a great looking labyrinth of a mystery movie.
And it becomes less of a slower narrative pacing issue when the central performances have such finesse. Bale is formidable as the weary widower Landor whom is still nursing the heart ache of losing his daughter while plumbing for the truth within the dark. But it’s really Melling who takes the cake as the gangly outsider Poe, sporting a comely Virginian southern lilt that mellows his every turn of phrase into riddles of bemusement. It’s a nifty bit of fan fiction to see a younger Poe stumble about as a would be investigator alongside the seasoned Landor patiently finding clues and paving the way. These two actors exchanging ideas and matching wits together becomes the core hook of the film. It also doesn’t hurt that the various supporting players including other British veterans in Toby Jones, Timothy Spall and a great scene stealing Gillian Anderson offer biting support. Though, alas, the great Robert Duvall is given little to nothing to do other than spout meager exposition as elder Jean Pepe (a professor with knowledge of witchcraft who worked with Landor on past cases).
The film does lean into a twistier conclusion than necessary which isn’t without a few plotholes that call into question some proceedings that came before. Though Poe comes to realize, along with Landor, that the most secretive of truths can be just a whisper away from the repercussions of evil. And it’s Melling’s compelling inner fire that will keep you watching throughout the dark frost and snow befallen light.
(3 stars out of 5)
