Directed by Jennifer Peedom (2017)
by Sandy DeVito

Jennifer Peedom's body of work, thus far, has been obsessed with the natural world, specifically humankind's relationship and obsession with that which is indifferent to us. This tradition is continued in Mountain, an experience deeply rooted in the idea of the grandly cinematic being innately tied to the realistic spectrum in the mind of human artistry. As a meditative poem on humanity's desire for the existential, Peedom's film of Robert Macfarlane's verdant prose read by Willem Dafoe's wise, gravelly intonation (a voice he's had since he was in his late twenties, as anyone who is familiar with his filmography knows) invokes the wonder of our tininess, our arrogance, and our fragility in the face of these monuments to the giant wheel of time.