This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
A Boulder-Strewn Pathway Around Love
Plot Overview
Recovering gambling addict Sam Pivnic
(Zach Avery) snaps an opportunistic photo from the window of his
voyeuristic girlfriend Georgia Outerbridge (Samara
Weaving)'s apartment. He catches unawares Eastern European mobster
Ivan Demisovski (Udo Kier) in a crime of passion (“I saw something
that I wasn't supposed to see.”) Ivan sends the Ristani brothers
across the street to take care of any witnesses. A shot snapped off
a gas pipe clips Georgia knocking her to the floor. Sam runs for his
life leaving her for dead. When the apartment blows up, it's unclear
what happened to Georgia as all the corpses got fried. If she did
survive, she'll be blaming her ex-boyfriend's gambling debts for the
mob attention and make herself scarce. The police want to take a good
hard look at him but they can't charge him without an
identifiable body. Sam now on a mob hit list flees the country.
Three years later a brooding Sam sees an up-and-coming new actress Lauren Clerk (Samara Weaving) playing a bit part in a new film, and he notes an uncanny resemblance to his lost girlfriend who had acting aspirations. When he can't find any background info about her on the Web, he resolves to go to L.A. to check her out. This stirs up a whole hornets' nest of trouble.
Ideology
There are some minor background points in this film that pack a whole lot of punch. (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”
(Prov. 30:25) “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;” It's good to start early to prepare for one's path in life. Ivan was first an accountant and when at age twenty he was sent to the gulag, he killed a man with a rock who tried to steal his food. To be a mob boss, one needs to have a good head for books and to be ruthless. Sam started with video games in high school, then moved on to cards. The hand-eye coordination helped him succeed at doing dishes at a Parisian café, and at delivering packages as a bicycle courier. He also used his bluffing skills on some guards. His focus on the video games helped him maintain the pace of two jobs at once. We meet Kat Zaro (Carly Chaikin) who was part of a girl band in high school. It wasn't a success but it helped her deal with her need for attention.
(Prov. 30:26)
“The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses
in the rocks.” Location is important. Kat came to L.A. to pursue music. Sam moved to Paris
to escape pursuit.
(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” It's good to develop ad hoc liaisons. Georgia was in tight with her mom Jean (Nicole Ansari.) Sam hooked up with his brother (“Ton frère”) expatriate Gilles (Brian Cox.) In L.A. he teamed up with Kath from the past. Lauren found an ally in her fiancé cinematographer Vince Macdonald (Hal Ozsan.) And the mob were thick as thieves.
(Prov. 30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.” Both Lauren and Georgia were like a persistent spider casting new webs as they applied for available parts. Sam took the bull by the horns flying off to seek a Hollywood vision. Both he and Gilles speculated about a warm place to retire to.
Production Values
“” (2020) was written and directed by Colin Krisel and James Krisel who were a swell team. It stars Zach Avery, Brian Cox, and Udo Kier. Lead actor Zach Avery played a brooding character whose beard masked his affect for an audience not acculturated to facial hair. The cast was decent but there wasn't much story for them to work with. Brian Cox did great as expected in a role of a transplanted Scotsman.
MPAA rated it R for violence, language, sexuality and nudity. It was filmed at Hampton Roads, Virginia, USA, a good stand-in location for L.A.. The plot goes back and forth in time, so one must pay attention to it. The original attempted hit is covered more fully in the Deleted Scenes. Composer Benjamin Patrick's music brings out the emotional element in a somewhat dry thriller.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
This movie has to be viewed for what it is, a neo-noir thriller, for it to be appreciated. We brood with the characters more than run with the hero. The plot has multiple sympathetic characters making it hard to imagine a win-win outcome in any case, but the writer did his best. I liked it, but I'm easy to please.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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