Directed by Mattie Do
Written by Christopher Larsen
Starring Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Noutnapha Soydara
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hr 56 min
Language: Loa with English subtitles
In select theaters, Digital and On-Demand March 1st

by Stacey Osbeck, Staff Writer

I’ve always loved a good ghost story, but don’t particularly enjoy horror. This clearly limits my options. The Long Walk, directed by Mattie Do and written by Christopher Larsen hits the sweet spot, a ghost story that strays from tidy genre parameters, offering a film that’s not fully horror, not quite sci-fi.  

In the countryside of Laos, a boy (Por Silatsa) discovers a young woman (Noutnapha Soydara) on death’s door. A motorbike accident threw her into the woods, just off the road. Had he not come upon her and held her hand while she drew her last breaths, she would have died alone. 

The boy soon learns that dead does not mean gone. On the long walk from his home, where his father (Vithaya Sombath) works in the fields, to the crossroad where his mother (Chanthamone Inoudome) sells their crops, the ghost girl follows. At first, the apparition terrifies him. Only in time does he find a friend in her.  

Over the years the boy becomes an old man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy) and lives in the Laos of the near future. The passage of time would of course bring innovations in technology: how we pay, how the police track people, computer chips, energy. But for the most part much stays the same. This mix of the banal along with exciting, but credible, advancements makes this near future completely believable. The worldbuilding also doesn’t try too hard to push the fantastical that it distracts from the story. 

The old man gains a reputation as a person who can speak to spirits. From childhood on villagers have witnesses odd things and on occasion caught fleeting glimpses of his walking companion. Even with all the ghosts around, the thing that forever haunts him is that as a child he could do nothing while his mother died a slow, miserable death from a raspy cough. 

Ghosts transcend time. Even when their bodies perish, they keep going. With this in mind the old man solicits his ghostly companion to help him alter past events regarding his mom’s death. That way he can finally help his mother and be free of the burden he carries over it. It’s a plan only the old man with his abilities and otherworldly connections could pull off. Despite his best efforts it becomes apparent that sorrow and regret are tightly knit into the human experience. Bit by bit he sees that like the dead, the past is best left undisturbed.  

Interestingly enough Mattie Do and Christopher Larsen are a married couple. She directs. He writes. The Long Walk is their third film in which they collaborated in this capacity. Their craft is solid and entertaining enough that I’m willing to put aside my fear of horror to see what else they’ve got. I highly recommend The Long Walk. It’s original, gripping and explores some topics that have no easy answers.