First and foremost, I have to admit that I am not an expert on Latvian movies. Before watching director Artur Latkovsky’s debut film, The Land of Blue Lakes (2021), I had never seen any Latvian films or even heard of any films set in Latvia. Nonetheless, I came across what seems to be Latvia’s first-ever found footage horror film, and I am happy to say that it exceeds expectations.
In addition to lacking knowledge of Latvian cinema (and culture), I have never been a big fan of found-footage horror. In nearly every case, this approach feels at best, gimmicky, and at worst, nauseating. Naturally, there have been exceptions. REC (2007) was incredibly scary and well-executed, but it is a rare exception in a sea of mediocrity. For this reason, I went into The Land of Blue Lakes with pretty low expectations.
The Land of Blue Lakes begins with the following intertitles, roughly translated from Latvian:
“One year ago, five friends went on a trip and never returned. This edited video was found in a forum on the Deep Web.”
As a result, we already know that things are not going to turn out well for the film’s central characters. However, I failed to remember the opening statement about 30 minutes into the film. Why? Because The Land of Blue Lakes does an excellent job of making you forget that it’s a narrative film at all.
The film is set in Latgale, a somewhat remote and sparsely populated region on the eastern border of Latvia. Latgale is also known as “The Land of Blue Lakes,” as it is covered by more than 1,200 lakes of varying sizes. In the film, five friends set out on an excursion to explore a few of the lakes on kayaks. More specifically, they want to take a route through several interconnected lakes that were once home to pagan communities. Prior to the introduction of Christianity, these pagans regularly practiced sacrifices of virgins to ensure that they were protected from the whims of ruthless gods. As the five friends go deeper into the web of lakes and islands, it becomes clear that an evil presence is still lurking somewhere nearby.
It would be easy to assume that The Land of Blue Lakes is just a Latvian version of The Blair Witch Project (1999). Fortunately, the former manages to accomplish far more than the latter with a fraction of the budget. This is due to the fact that The Land of Blue Lakes is far more believable. The focus of the film is not on the “evil” that may or may not live among the marshes. In fact, these stories are only mentioned in passing. They help give the horrific moments context, but otherwise, they take a backseat to something different altogether.
The vast majority of the film feels like a nature documentary chronicling the beauty of Latvia. We watch as five friends literally do their best to navigate complex waterways. They record their entire experience for social media, but rather than simply “acting” like they’re exploring, the actors really have to put in the work. They have to get their kayaks through narrow channels, avoid thunderstorms, play “limbo” to get under low-hanging branches, dry out their wet clothing, and generally go through all of the troubles that you would experience on a camping trip. Consequently, 95% of the film feels like very real documentation of a kayaking trip taken with real friends. The conversations are natural, the scenery is beautiful, and the complications are all very relatable and convincing.
There was actually a point in the film when I doubted if it would become horrific at all. It lures you into a false sense of security, portraying the beauty of Latvia in the format of a nature vlog. I found myself feeling relaxed by the whole experience, only to feel increasingly tense as the adventure slowly turns into a nightmare. I won’t reveal the ending, but it is safe to say that there’s an unexpected twist. If you’re like me, you won’t see it coming.
However, one of the best aspects of the film, in addition to the beautiful scenery, is the naturalistic acting. In nearly every shot, you might genuinely think that you’re watching five friends hang out in nature together. All of the dialogue is in Latvian, but the conversations and translations all sound (and read) extremely real and authentic. For this reason, it feels like watching friends who just wanted to document their trip and inadvertently created a horror film. Which, when you think about the format of a found-footage film, is exactly what it should be.
That said, the ending suffers a bit from confusing execution. There were some minor inconsistencies that left me wondering exactly what had taken place. To a degree, you have to expect this from a found-footage film. You can’t see everything clearly, which almost always leaves certain mysteries unexplained. Still, it would have been nice to have just two or three more minutes added to the final act. This could have provided a stronger conclusion to a film that has a very slow, relaxed build-up. Nonetheless, the finale was effective enough turn an otherwise pleasant nature “documentary” into a satisfying horror film.
In short, The Land of Blue Lakes (2021) is a perfect example of what filmmakers can do when they have more creativity than money. Other found-footage horror films have had millions of dollars to play around with and delivered terrible results. Conversely, director Artur Latkovsky (who also stars in the film as the primary cameraman) uses the shaky-camera format to create Latvia’s first found-footage horror film on a shoestring budget. And it works really, really well.
The Land of Blue Lakes Movie Rating: ★★★★ out of 5
If you’d like to watch The Land of Blue Lakes (2021), it is currently available to stream via Vimeo on Demand. Additionally, you can follow director Artur Latkovsky on Instagram for future updates on independent Latvian movies and films. Finally, for more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!