I have to admit something here.
Edmonton is filled with very talented people but they are all in a niche. In that niche those people are exploited to create movies by talentless directors who are unable to see through their own commitment to make a good film. They themselves know this and gather their friends to give 10's on the review pages in a bid to keep their ego's afloat.
Allow me to spill the truth about this movie:
1. The cinematography is an absolute nightmare. Whoever decided to color correct this thing needs to either recalibrate their monitor or watch other movies because sadly this really ruined the film for me, it's basically unwatchable. If anyone decided to make more movies with this guy please do not allow him to color the film or touch a camera again!
2. The director needs to re-evaluate his life about making movies. The story was comprehensible and I was engaged to watch it but there were many times where the acting had me laughing. Do these people even practice their damn lines? Must be a plague running around with Edmonton films as I have yet to see one good movie made by an Edmontonian with good acting. Say all you want about me being insensitive but it's really bad and is show-cased to a high degree here with Markings of Murder.
3. The fact that this won any sort of awards is astonishing and political. Submitting this film to anywhere but a local or small film festival would be a waste of money as nobody in their right mind would screen this.
I wonder if this is where our tax dollars are going to the government grants for our film fund here in Alberta. If so allow a stipulation that the director has proven his or her ability to create something half decent.