Some films are uniquely unsuited for pandemic lockdown viewing. Take for instance Castle in the Ground, a moderately affecting grief drama that builds a compelling intimacy and then allows it to evaporate as it lurches unpersuasively into a claustrophobic quasi-thriller set against the backdrop of the opioid crisis in Sudbury, Ontario.
A layered lead performance from Alex Wolff fosters emotional involvement only up to a point given that great chunks of the movie are spent in dingy apartments experiencing woozy OxyContin highs amid artful chiaroscuro lighting.