Jeremy Saulnier, here writing, directing, producing & editing, takes a big step up from the horror/suspense of GREEN ROOM*, pulling off a twisty revenge drama dipped in southern-fried racism and loaded with great character turns in parts large & small. Only its structure, ironically the single best element in GREEN ROOM, gets away from him. Worked out in sequential three-act narrative chunks, it unfolds like a compressed streaming-series, the opening arc a throwback (and something of a fake out) as if it’s still the 1960s with, say, Jim Brown single-handedly taking on Southern racism after being 'pulled over' by local White policemen for riding a bicycle on a country highway while Black. Then complications set in. This no isolated incident, but a small piece of interconnected corruption with good-old-boys in uniform (under the supervision of Sheriff Don Johnson) scamming the Black community out of parole cash, helped by crooked courts, shady legal practices and bribed judges. Saulnier plays close to the vest, pulling you in with a fine eye for detail & blistering action. Seeing computers screens in patrol cars a shock of the modern in a social system not much changed from ‘60s mentality. Saulnier also got lucky on second-choice lead Aaron Pierre (a hunk who can really act), easily crossing from barely contained impatient rage (unable to stop a cousin’s prison transfer that amounts to a death sentence) to cooly planned physical payback. This part of the storyline not so far from the current REACHER series with Pierre’s military background as a top Marine instructor coming into play. Though unlike Reacher, Pierre has no in-the-field combat experience and no band-of-brothers to fall back on, only tiny, blonde legal aide AnnaSophia Robb as support. (But the chemistry between these two, perhaps because nothing transpires, is terrific.) Too bad NetFlix skipped a theatrical release on this one.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *GREEN ROOM/’15, belatedly seen here for the chance to see the ill-fated Anton Yelchin in a decent role, first brought Saulnier’s confident filmmaking to our attention. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2024/09/green-roomterr-2015.html
No comments:
Post a Comment