Dark Places (6/10): It's no Gone Girl, but still a decent mystery thriller

“The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.”

I have a soft spot for mystery films where the audience is kept in suspense and has to try to figure out who committed the crime. Dark Places is such a film. What drew me to this film however wasn’t the genre nor the fact that Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult were going to be in this movie together again after their success in Fury Road, but that the screenplay was adapted from Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name. Gone Girl was one of my favorite films of 2014 and I loved Fincher’s direction in that film, but above all I thought the screenplay was the best that year. Dark Places was written prior to Gone Girl, and there aren’t as many twists here, but the story still manages to captivate you and leave you in suspense. Dark Places was directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner (Sarah’s Key) and he also adapted the screenplay. The film is flawed and the voice over narration doesn’t work at all, but the story is what kept me interested along with the strong cast. The cinematography is dark and it helps build the overall atmosphere of the movie as the story jumps back and forth from past (a day in 1985 when a horrible crime was committed) to present. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but I enjoyed the fact that I was continuously guessing who the murderer might be up to the final act. 

Libby Day (Charlize Theron) was only seven when her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their Kansas farmhouse. She managed to escape and all signs seemed to indicate that her brother Ben (Tye Sheridan) was the murderer. She even testified in court that her brother was responsible, and now 25 years later she continues to be haunted by her past. She’s lived off the life insurance money and donations that many caring people have donated to her, but that money is all gone now and her depression hasn’t allowed her to move on with her life. When a young man named Lyle (Nicholas Hoult) offers her some money to come visit their club, “The Kill Club” she decides to go. They explain to Libby that they are a group of amateur investigators who like to explore unsolved cases. They are convinced her brother is innocent and they offer her more money to begin investigating what happened that tragic night. It’s not easy for Libby to revisit these dark memories of her past which have haunted her, but she begins by visiting her brother in prison (now played by Corey Stoll). He reminds her of some events that took place during that time and as she begins to investigate we are introduced to several flashbacks of what actually happened. Libby’s mother is played by Christina Hendricks, her father by Sean Bridgers, while Chloe Grace Moretz plays Ben’s love interest during the flashback scenes.       

This is a strong cast for a film directed by a relatively unknown director, but considering Gone Girl was such a success I’m sure they were all excited about being a part of this film. Tye Sheridan and Chloe Grace Moretz are two of my favorite young teen actors working today. Unfortunately they don’t get much to do with their characters here. The stand out for me was Christina Hendricks who delivers a solid performance as this single mother of four who is trying her best to keep up float. Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult are also solid, but their performance doesn’t even come close to what they did in Fury Road. The flashback scenes were the highlight of the movie for me, and I didn’t care too much for the present investigation so that might be a reason why I wasn’t blown away by either of Theron or Hoult’s performances. Dark Places isn’t as tightly constructed as Gone Girl and the characters aren’t as interesting, but the mystery still had me engaged during most of the film’s running time. In a better director’s hand this film could’ve been great, but it still managed to be slightly entertaining. 

My Review: Joe (8/10)

"You pretend to be asleep, but I know you'd cry if I said the wrong thing."

Joe is a powerful and emotional drama that despite being slow grips you thanks to an intense realism and some excellent performances. Many have compared this to last year's MUD perhaps because teenager Tye Sheridan is in both films and they happen to take place in southern America dealing with some trashy characters. I really felt this film was more similar to Jennifer Lawrence's Winter's Bone in mood and tone, since MUD had an underlying romantic theme which this film lacks and you have two young characters that have to face great obstacles in order to sustain their families. With his performance in Joe, Tye Sheridan, has acquired quite an impressive resume despite his young age adding this performance to his work in MUD and The Tree of Life. As the title suggests however, the film benefits from a great lead performance from Cage who plays Joe, a man with a troubled past who gets a chance at redemption when he meets this young kid and becomes a sort of role model for him. This is one of Nicolas Cage's top 5 performances and a return to form for the actor that I grew up loving in the 90's. Perhaps my favorite performance in the film comes from newcomer, Gary Poulter, who plays the abusive alcoholic father. I can't think of a more horrifying villain than the character he portrays in Joe. Director, David Gordon Green, has also had a return to form after his disappointing turns in the comedies The Sitter and Your Highness. He is a very versatile director who received a lot of critical acclaim from his early small indies, George Washington and All the Real Girls, and then he also had success with his first stoner comedy, Pineapple Express. You would never imagine Joe was directed by the same person considering this is such a dark emotional drama.

Joe takes place in the wild South lands of Mississippi where we meet Joe Ransom (Nicolas Cage), an ex-con and heavy drinker who is trying to lay low working as a lumberjack. His life takes a turn when he meets a young 15 year old named Gary (Tye Sheridan) who comes to him looking for a job. Gary is the oldest son of a homeless family who suffers abuse from his alcoholic father, Wade (Gary Poulter). Wade spends all the money in booze and beats Gary on a regular basis. Joe's protective instincts come to play when he takes a liking for Joe who he tries to help. Despite having a lot of friends in the small local town, Joe also has made some enemies due to his heavy drinking and constant trouble with the law, and despite how much he tries to restrain himself from hurting others, seeing Gary being constantly abused awakens his anger towards his abusive father.

The characters in this film have a lot of depth and the realism with which they are portrayed by the actors is shocking at times. Sheridan gives a similar performance as that of Lawrence in Winter's Bone, Nicolas Cage is outstanding as well in his restrained role, and Poulter is so terrifying that he makes everyone's father look like a saint. The film has a haunting atmosphere and the drama is so rich that it is hard to remain emotionally detached to the story. It is a powerful and honest drama, one of the best from 2014. It's one of those rare emotional character studies that doesn't feel manipulative and never hits a false note. Cage reminds us why he was such a success in the past and I'm glad to see him back in form after a terrible batch of films.

My Review: MUD (10/10)

"I just can't spend the rest of my life running away with him."

Jeff Nichols surprised everyone a few years ago with his excellent film, Take Shelter, and now he delivers another great movie with MUD. Despite being more mainstream than Take Shelter and less artistic, I enjoyed this film more because of the way the story was narrated and the characters were developed. I was blown away with this story and in my opinion it is the best film of the year and my first five star review of the year as well. The screenplay, written by Jeff Nichols, seemed to be taken straight from an unpublished Mark Twain novel. It felt like I was watching a contemporary adventure of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. MUD was fantastic, I felt like it took some of the best elements of some other films like Stand By Me and Sling Blade and improved them. Nichols knows about small southern towns and the location becomes an important character in this superb and suspenseful film. In my opinion MUD is a masterpiece and I could watch it many more times thanks to the way in which Nichols drew me into the story and got me emotionally involved with the characters. It is a very rewarding film if you remain patient and let the story slowly build into what it becomes. It is a character driven film with some powerful performances and some great visuals.

Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) are two young teenagers living on the banks of the Mississippi River in Arkansas. These good friends decide to sneak out of their houses one morning to a small island where Neckbone has spotted a boat on top of a tree. Apparently the boat ended up there after a flood that took place sometime in the past and these kids recently discovered it. Wanting to claim it as their own they climb the tree and to their surprise they discover that someone has been living there. That is when they meet Mud (Matthew McConaughey) a fugitive who has been hiding out from the police and some bounty hunters after committing a crime for the love of his life, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Ellis, who has an idealistic view about love decides to help Mud convinced that their love story is pure. Shaped by Mud's story and love for Juniper, Ellis begins to have feelings of his own for a girl named May Pearl (Bonnie Sturdivant). He really feels the need for Mud and Juniper to be able to escape safely together after seeing how the marriage of his parents, Senior (Ray McKinnon) and Mary Lee (Sarah Paulson), begins to crumble at home.

Matthew McConaughey is superb in this film and in my opinion gives one of the best performances of his career. He has been on quite a role lately with some very interesting roles. I hope he gets nominated for his work here. As much as I enjoyed his performance, I don't know if the movie would have worked without the strong lead performance from the two young kids, especially from Sheridan who is the lead character and through whose eyes we see everything. Sheridan blew me away and I really cared for his character. There is so much depth to his character and we see the range of emotions that he goes through. He is tough but at the same time sweet, he has strong convictions about love but at the same time these convictions are being put to a test. Sheridan nails the role and delivers this film. There are also some strong secondary performances from Sam Shepard and Michael Shannon who plays a very different role here. Shannon's character, Neckbone's uncle, has the funniest scenes and brings some lightness to the story. This is by far the best film I've seen this year. I loved the story, the characters, and the suspense. The attention to southern detail that Nichols makes only improves this film and makes it more emotionally involving than it already is.