The Living (FILM REVIEW)
The Living
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Serpentine Revenge Thriller Featuring All the Fixin’s for Riveting Cinema
After being bashed beyond
recognition by her alcoholic husband (Fran Kranz) again, Molly (Jocelin
Donahue) made a beeline to her regular port of refuge in a storm. So, by the
time his hangover wore off the next day, he knew exactly he could find her.
Her
mother (Joelle Carter) was so upset when Teddy showed up that she pointed a gun
at his chest and ordered him to “Stay away from my daughter!” But the savage wife
beater defiantly called her bluff by waiting for his spouse while arrogantly
asserting, “Angela, you’re not going to shoot me.”
Emerging from the house with a black eye and bruises all over her body,
Molly brushed past her mom before forgiving her sadistic abuser for the
umpteenth time. Fed up with this predictable cycle of dysfunction, Angela
prevails upon her son (Kenny Wormald) to defend his sister’s honor, like their
late daddy would’ve done, if he were still around.
Although Gordon loves his sister, he’s too much of a milquetoast to
rise to the occasion by taking the law into his own hands. And after taking a humiliating
tongue lashing from his irate mom, he decides out of desperation to enlist help
in exacting a measure of revenge.
So, he arranges a meeting in a diner with Howard Blake (Chris
Mulkey), a tough guy for hire. The ex-con turns out to be not only a
cold-blooded hit man but cheap enough to retain on a modest, grocery clerk’s
salary. So, the next thing you know, Gordon finds himself stuck in a conspiracy
to commit murder that he can’t back out of even when he starts to have second
thoughts.
That is the intriguing point of departure of The Living, a
serpentine psychological thriller written and directed by Jack Bryan (Struck).
This character-driven drama chronicles the slow descent into depravity of a well-meaning
hero who reluctantly takes to the wrong side of the law for the sake of a sister
stuck in denial.
A
grim, grudging-buddies splatterfest featuring a few surprising plot twists and
all the fixin’s for a riveting cinematic experience.
Very Good
(3 stars)
Rated R for profanity
and violence
Running time: 91 minutes
Studio: Shooting
Films
Distributor: Monterey Media
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