A dueling vendetta film like 2002’s Changing Lanes—maybe more distant cousins of Crimson Tide or Ridley Scott’s The Duellists
The four leads are strong. It’s led by Octavia Spencer (who is always good), from It Comes at Night Kelvin Harrison Jr (as the two dueling), Naomi Watts and Tim Roth— having said that—the single best scene in the film is a long take by director Onah shooting the harrowing breakdown by Marsha Stephanie Blake who plays Spencer’s sister, debilitated by addiction. The rest of the film (a blending of drama and thriller) is very good, but this scene in on another level- both in the fine performance by Blake and the bold stylistic choice to shoot it in one take by Onah
These are 4 rich characters—morality and intelligent debating- verbal and mental chess.
It’s no major formal achievement but there’s a nice reoccurring exterior shot of the school, and we open with a shot on a bag in a locker room—it’s not until later we find out the implications of the shot- well done
The Geoff Barrows score has a couple of loud big breaks that really work—a bit of a Hans Zimmer touch to it
[…] Luce – Onah […]