Very well done, this story of a man going mad (or is he?) kept us riveted the whole time. Michael Shannon's (last covered in The Runaways) Curtis never has a moment's rest and his face shows it in every scene. As his wife Samantha, Jessica Chastain (The Debt) is outstanding, with a fully developed character to express. Jeff Nichols directed and wrote the script (his second), which is set and shot in northern Ohio, about 30 miles from Cleveland, and the little girl who plays their deaf daughter Hannah is a deaf girl from central Ohio named Tova Stewart who makes her acting debut here. I knew the guy who works with Curtis looked familiar, and then I watched the latest episode of Boardwalk Empire and realized he is Shea Whigham, who plays Sheriff Eli Thompson on that show, not so far sharing a scene with Shannon's Agent van Alden. Another face I recognized was Ray McKinnon, who has one scene as Curtis' brother Kyle--McKinnon was In O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and The Blind Side, among others.
Spooky music (go to the amazon page and click Play all samples) by David Wingo (from the band Ola Podrida) is supplemented by a song by Ben Nichols (the band Lucero), the director's brother. I'm glad I decided to write this one up, before the other five (!) in draft mode, because I learned the Gotham Award nominees for independent film have been published. This was nominated for best picture and ensemble cast, and soon I will add it to my work-in-progress of nominations and winners sorted by title. Well, maybe not that soon, since I have the others to write up, and haven't stopped seeing new ones, nor my other work.
Anyway, this is a good one, and you should see this new movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment