Free State of Jones is inspired by real events that took place in Jones County, Mississippi following the United States’ civil war. As expected, Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club) is impressive as Newton Knight, a former army medic who lead an armed rebellion against the confederate army. The film also features strong performances by Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a freedwoman named Rachel, and Mahershala Ali as a former slave named Moses who joins Knight’s movement.
I remember interviewing filmmaker Igor Drljaca in 2012 when his feature film debut Krivina was a selection at TIFF. Even though his slow-burning drama Krivina left me lukewarm, I walked away from our one-on-one with a movie goer’s gratification, knowing that Drljaca – with his confident opinions – was going to have an interesting career ahead of him.
Misconduct is a soap opera fuelled by star power. However, the film doesn’t aspire to anything more than cheap scandalous thrills.
After a 5-year hiatus, English filmmaker Terence Davies returns with Sunset Song, an adaptation of the seminal Scottish novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. Davies’ traditionally melodramatic and stilted approach to writing drama is on display here, and a great hindrance to this adaptation.
If The People Garden inspired me in any way, it reminded me that I really should mail filmmakers Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas a thank-you letter for 2013’s The Oxbow Cure. I’m not comparing both Canadian dramas (which also, coincidentally, take place in the woods), but if a filmmaker creates a minimalist movie, they ought to have a resonating voice.
Private Investigator Mel Sampson (John Hawkes) fast-talks his way through strip clubs and mob bosses for one very dear-to-his-heart dancer. After one-time acquaintance Dorothy (Crystal Reed) places a call to Sampson for help, Sampson comes running, but he’s too late. The chain-smoking Sampson doesn’t rest until he finds out what happened to her – and makes sure the appropriate parties understand their mistakes.
