The Sands Of Time

Six Years Gone
Stars: Veronica Jean Trickett, Anna Griffiths, Sarah Priddy and Karl Kennedy
Director/Scriptwriter: Warren Dudley
Composer: James Cox
Cinematographer” Richard Osborne
Sixty6MediaFilm/Indie rights
Rating: no rating, but adult film
Running Length: 90 Minutes 

To have a missing child is a tragedy, indeed, and in “Six Years Gone,” the storyline is already laid out for the audience. The How, Where, When and Why come in pieces of this puzzle.  In the middle – and carrying the movie- - is Veronica Jean Trickett who takes a character on paper and makes a monumental story for the audience. You feel her emotions and you couldn’t eat popcorn during this time if you wanted to. Now,  what happened…. 

The film begins with mother, Carrie (Trickett) and early teenage daughter, Lolly (Anna Griffiths) having breakfast. The girl goes to school and will be picked up by her grandmother, Mary (Sarah Priddy.)  Mom entertains a man in her home and time goes by.  Soon, it is time for Lolly to be dropped off by her grandmother, but no Lolly.  After numerous phone calls, Carrie finds her mother did not pick Lolly up at school and now she is officially missing.  It is frantic time with police questioning and no news on Lolly’s disappearance. Here Carrie meets Karl (Karl Kennedy-Williams.)  Time passes----and Carrie begins to realize that her mother has a fading memory. Her forgetfulness is becoming frequent. Years pass, and Carrie is still searching for her daughter, ever hopeful that she is alive. Money is always a problem and so is paying the rent on her flat.  Enter a new situation---on social media someone has mentioned the disappearance of a girl and Carrie begins to wonder….is this associated with Lolly’s disappearance? Or has time run out? 

The audience may think they have been put through the wringer with the emotions displayed by Trickett. This is really a one-person film and she carries it well.  Other actors are there as background. The film is shot in light and shadows.  Carrie’s life was light and now she has to cope with shadows and the cinematography by Richard Osborne and soundtrack by James Cox carry this through. It is not an easy film to watch, but a stellar one for acting. With a subject like a missing child, the director has to walk a fine line between happy and sad and the middle road of hope which can start to fade as time goes by. Director Warren Dudley does just that. A mother is always a mother is always a mother.  Mary is the grandmother who is beginning to falter in life and Carrie is the mother who carries her mother and hopes for her own child. This is a triangle where the third point is the crucial one. Where is she? 

Copyright 2022 Marie Asner