‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ Review

Based on a real story that was told in a book of the same name, Lost on a Mountain in Maine centers around Donn (Luke David Blumm), a boy who, after falling out with his father on a hike, decides to climb a mountain without the appropriate gear and ignoring the fact that the weather won’t make it any easier. The boy went on to spend nine days in the backwoods of Maine and wander for a whopping 80 miles before being rescued.

At a certain moment in Lost on a Mountain in Maine, someone states that the story of Donn Fendler “was really a miracle.” You wouldn’t really know it from watching this movie, though. Over the course of its 98 minutes, the Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger (Dust of War) drama manages to make every aspect weightless and a story that should be immensely compelling turns out generic and unimaginative.

What is ‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ About?

It’s pretty obvious that Donn’s real-life account is impressive by any standards, and the kind of material that Hollywood jumps at the chance of transforming into an inspiring movie. The problem with Lost on a Mountain in Maine is that Kightlinger and his screenwriter Luke Paradise (Sympathy For The Devil) make virtually no effort to make the story compelling beyond the surface level. Throughout its runtime, it feels like the story is more worried about checking boxes than actually diving into its conflicts. Family drama, check. Fight with father, check. And it goes on.

For some reason that is pretty strenuous to understand, Lost on a Mountain in Maine is not interested in diving into the desperation of parents who have no idea where their child is. Ruth (Caitlin FitzGerald) navigates the entire movie with the same aloof expression and her approach to the whole affair makes it hard for you to tell if she lost her son or her favorite sweater. And even if one argued that the character was too numb to show any actual emotion, the movie never plays that up, and external elements never reflect the desperation and hopelessness of a mother starting to lose hope.

The same is true for Donald (Paul Sparks), who gets a little more wiggle room because the boy’s father can be explosive at times, and it’s effortless to make the character look like he regrets acting the way he does with his kid. However, you never see the parents exhausting every option to find the child and reaching their wit’s end to figure out possible solutions to approach the impossible task of searching the enormous mountain. They pretty much accept that the boy disappeared and are hoping against hope that he’ll be brought back.

‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ Sabotages Itself

Almost like it understands that it’s failing to convey the proper weight of that story, Lost on a Mountain in Maine makes the misguided decision to insert real-life accounts from the people who lived through that story in 1939. This hurts the movie because you see the talking heads going on about how shocking and impressive the whole case was, but the movie never matches their wonder or enthusiasm. And worse of all, the one person that viewers would be most interested in hearing speak — the real Donn — is kept until the end of the movie and talks for ten seconds.

But as bad as all of that is, it all fails in comparison to Lost on a Mountain in Maine‘s biggest problem. As we spend the nine days with Donn in the backwoods, we never get the sensation that the boy is desperate, we never see him truly struggle — and he faces basically no challenge except having to walk until somebody finds him. In a world in which we’ve seen stories like 127 Hours, Cast Away and Into the Wild, this movie struggles to find its uniqueness.

Not that Lost on a Mountain in Maine would need an over-the-top situation to make it compelling. Just putting us inside the mind of Donn and giving us access to his thought process during his ordeal would make for a far more engaging movie. Not by chance, the best moments of the story take place when Kightlinger allows Donn to become a little delirious and fantasize about some things that may or may not be there in the wilderness.

‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ Forgets That Kids Are Also Characters

One thing that Lost on a Mountain in Maine does well is establish the relationship between Donn and his siblings, which pulls you into the movie right at the beginning. However, this is greatly fumbled afterward, because the kids end up pretty much forgotten by the story, and we never get their perspective on the whole situation and how they react to it when the adults are not around.

Lost on a Mountain in Maine really wants to convince you that it’s telling a marvelous story, but does little work to prove it. Every element of the story is only explored at surface level, and its stakes — which could be sky-high — are barely even there. All in all, the movie is a series of missed opportunities to create compelling storylines, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t exploit anything it presents on the screen to its advantage.

Lost on a Mountain in Maine

‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ is a survival story that struggles to present the desperation and difficulties of this situation.

Release Date

November 1, 2024

Director

Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger

Cast

Caitlin Fitzgerald , Paul Sparks , Ethan Slater , Luke David Blumm , Dean Neistat , Dan Matteucci , Bates Wilder , Mason Cufari

Runtime

98 Minutes

Pros

• Sibling dynamics are well established in the beginning.
• Imaginative/delirious moments in the wilderness add flavor to the story.

Cons

• Every element is done on surface level.
• Documentary approach hurts the story.
• Fails to convey the desperation of the lost boy and his parents’.
• Makes an incredible real story into a generic drama.

Lost On a Mountain in Maine premieres in theaters on November 1. Click below for showtimes.

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