While I love involving storytelling, “The Claim” tells a story that’s nearly as stark and depressing as its setting, lighting and photography. A rough-hewn community with its citizenry comprised mainly of gold seekers and prostitutes, the leads struggle with the climate and the emptiness of their lives. The environment is frigid and white with compacted snow, while the people bundle up in heavy black garments. This imagery sets the dispirited mood of both script and characters. It is well crafted, but the melancholy feel from start to finish left me nearly as cold as the film’s landscape. Even in Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” we are left with hope as the doomed protagonists have helped unite their families. This film, however, leaves us with a suicide caused by bitterness and self-reproach. While I appreciated the message that life always extracts a price for human error, I resented paying $8.50 for two hours of gloom and regret.