Cole Baird (Ben Winchell) is successful in just about every way a man can be. He has a wonderful job, a beautiful wife, Sarah (Alisa Allapach), all the money he could ever need, and more. However, Galena, Maryland is his home, and somehow everything always points back home. The Road to Galena is Cole’s story as he navigates the rocky terrain of law school, love, and his dreams. With the people closest to him, he will do what he can to find his way toward emotional success; he’s falling apart, time is fleeting, and the life that Cole once coveted is slipping from his grasp.
The Road to Galena is emotionally charged, and it relies heavily on things like cinematography, direction, and sound to bring these emotions to a head. That’s not to say that the narrative or the acting are bad, but they aren’t the primary sources of emotion throughout this film. What makes emotion most apparent throughout The Road to Galena is the score. It’s a somber and moving score that never relents. It’s inviting, and it paints a beautiful picture of drama, heartbreak, and everything in between. The sound, from beginning to end, resonates with viewers and allows them to understand and appreciate the intricacies of The Road to Galena, and in a film that covers every major life experience between the ages of eighteen and forty, that can be a tall task.
Another thing that allows viewers to appreciate the story of The Road to Galena is the makeup department. As mentioned, the film covers Cole’s life from age eighteen until almost forty, and it’s essential that viewers see a change in his and other characters’ aesthetic throughout the course of the film. The changes made to each character are so subtle, but so beautifully constructed, that it seems impossible that The Road to Galena works without these incredible details. Viewers could have easily gotten lost in the shuffle of The Road to Galena, and it could have become incredibly confusing as to when things occurred throughout Cole’s story, but the makeup develops subtle hints as to where and when things take place–ultimately playing a significant role in the grand scheme of the film.
In some ways The Road to Galena feels like every Lifetime movie ever to hit the small screen, but it’s fast paced. In the first twenty minutes or so the fast pacing is welcome, and it allows viewers to get a good idea of what Cole’s life is like–but then things shift drastically. The pacing of the film speeds up so much that it becomes difficult to follow, difficult to appreciate. While those hints to when and where things occur still play a massive role in the understanding of the film (and those things certainly help), the overly gung-ho nature of the pacing becomes a bit too much to swallow at points. Keeping with the flaws of those aforementioned Lifetime films, The Road to Galena feels emotionally wonky from time to time–all over the place and incapable of effectively conveying emotion through the writing. From one moment to the next characters struggle with their emotions, never remaining on a linear path and failing to convince viewers that they have any understanding of what human emotion is.
Chick flicks, romantic comedies, and the like have often struggled to convey appropriate emotion, develop riveting content, or really do anything akin to effective cinema. While The Road to Galena exists in the same vein as those films, its ability to create a compelling narrative, evoke emotion through the score, and ultimately attract viewers is far superior to those other films that exist in the same category. The Road to Galena checks some boxes in regard to what viewers look for in film; and while there are issues with what Joe Hall’s film is and how it’s developed, there are numerous aspects that are nothing short of beautiful. The Road to Galena has the potential to break down some barriers between rom-coms and other cinematic experiences, appealing to a wide range of viewers; and through the wonderful aspects of the film, Hall has the potential to intrigue a great number of viewers.
Written & Directed by Joe Hall.
Starring Ben Winchell, Will Brittain, Aimee Teegarden, Alisa Allapach, Jay O. Sanders, Jill Hennessy, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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