Drama

Thriller

The White Orchid

Santana Films

United States of America

English

Olivia Thirlby

Jennifer Beals

Rachael Taylor

John Carroll Lynch

Janina Gavankar

Nichelle Nichols

Raymond J. Barry

Brendan Sexton III

Michael Rodrick

Jeff Marchelletta

Cris D'Annunzio

Hayley Derryberry

Kim Kendall

Jana Gallagher

Ashley Gianni

Ricardo Chacon

Kelsey Siepser

Alan Tafoya

Timo Chen

Dylan O'Harra

Andrea Lwin

Sunny Reichert

Holland de Klerk

Hale Appleman

Adam McAlexander

Steve Anderson

Stephen H. Bogart

Robbert de Klerk

Bill Eikost

Andre Fontanelle

Jere B. Ford

Heather Kasprzak

Josh Mandel

Paul J. Porter

Enis Rotthoff

Patrick Meade Jones

Rebecca Mangieri

Wendy Weidman

Erin Cochran

Abra Brayman

Fernando Valdes

E.B. Brooks

Thom Cammer

Camille Clark

Kim Collea

Tracey Henton

Sara Jane Katen

Kacy Bartleigh

Bianca Smith

Vincent DeSantis

Kristin Gibler

Haley Keim

Aidan Neuner

Scott Sison

Kaitlyn Tolin

David Beede

Michael Capuano

Chris Hall

Paul Hollman

Evan Menak

Ryan Whisenant

Catherine Shen

Chris Haney

Peter Brunet

Jose Ibarra

Joshua Lang

Shan Liljestrand

Alex Merkle

Vincent Patin

Travis Shannon

Aaron Osborne

Jayne Rodericks

It starts off kind of slow and then never really picks up.

But, the lead does a great job of appearing smug and not at all interested in actually showing up to work and acting. Her character is supposed to be shy, but really she looks bored. Very, very, very bored.

But she manages to keep that look for the duration of the film.

The good news is that I am sure that look of pure boredom matches the look on viewers faces

**_Olivia Thirlby as a detective on the coast of central California_**

This is considered neo-noir in the manner of De Palma, just not spiffed up in the blockbuster sense. It was inspired by the Elizabeth Smart  murder case of 1947 (aka “The Black Dahlia”) but not based on it at all with the events taking place in 2014.

The first 65 minutes work as a slow burn detective story with good mystery and a little sensuality, highlighted by Olivia’s unique beauty and the scenic locations of Morro Bay, which is located midway between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, the Humphrey Bogart Estate being a key site. The 2020 movie “The Invisible Man” was obviously influenced by this first hour. A nice addition is unexpected appearances by Jennifer Beals and Nichelle Nichols.

Unfortunately, the climax is so contrived it enters “Why Sure!” territory. Worse, a softcore sapphic sequence is thrown in out of nowhere that is inorganic to the story and screams wannabe edgy. To add insult to injury, scenes of this make out session end up being the backdrop of the end credits. Get real.

The version I saw runs 1 hour, 28 minutes.

GRADE: D+

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