A Single Shot

A Single Shot (2013)

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R - 116 min - Crime, Drama, Thriller - 25 April 2013
Big Blue Sky Rating : 5.9/10

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Director : David M. Rosenthal
Writers : Matthew F. Jones
Stars : Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Kelly Reilly, Jason Isaacs

The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.

A serious and dark movie

This is a serious movie for serious viewers. Sam Rockwell gives a convincing performance as John Moon, a West Virginia cracker who stumbles into bad luck from the opening seen. All of the characters bring to life what it's probably like to live in a rural, poor area in flyover country. The accents of the characters are often thick, which can make it difficult to understand some of the dialog, but the plot nonetheless comes through clearly. Rockwell's character progresses from being a dumb cracker to someone you care about, as the tension builds towards a final resolution of his accidental and potentially deadly predicament. The acting and direction are first rate. The cinematography fits the story; the musical score does likewise. The story is dark, in a Jack London sort of way. You won't be inspired, but you might be brought closer in touch with the human condition.

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Sweetwater

Sweetwater (2013)

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R - 95 min - Thriller, Western - 11 October 2013
Big Blue Sky Rating : 6.1/10

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Director : Logan Miller
Writers : Andrew McKenzie, Logan Miller
Stars : Ed Harris, January Jones, Jason Isaacs, Eduardo Noriega

In the late 1800's, a beautiful former prostitute (January Jones: "Mad Men") is trying to build an honest life with her husband in the rugged plains of New Mexico. When she catches the eye of a sadistic and powerful religious leader (Jason Isaacs: Harry Potter series), her life is violently turned upside down. She embarks on a bloody course of vengeance with the assistance of a renegade sheriff (Ed Harris: Pollock, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13) who has pretty violent tendencies of his own.

a very controversial and mixed feeling

when you watched this film. there were many gibberish mambo-jumbo religious crappy monologue or crazy enough talk-to-himself murmurings. and the directing was also quite weird as the film itself. there was an usual cunning vicious and violent religious bully who thought all the vast land was his lord and his own property. he committed murder after murder under the name and excuse of the lord and at the same time whenever he reached the climax when he screwed his female followers, he also praised the lord for his ultimate pleasure(guess why all the men and women would cry out in unison 'oh, my god, oh my god' is indeed a Christian mantra during intercourse or love-making?)

this is a very weird movie, an out-of-the-box very unconventional western, at times funny and ruthless, sometimes clueless and ridiculous. but what made this film above the cheap low budget western genre B movies was 1) most of the actors did great jobs and performed so well that didn't give you a cheap feeling of the average tasteless low budget and disgusting modern day western B movies; 2) the great cinematography of the camera, the wide angle wildness of the landscape, the beautiful light setting control. just by watching the glamorous camera works would worth the money and earned at least 8 stars; 3) although the screenplay was a bit over the top ridiculous, but still quite watchable, good enough to anchor your fat buttocks firmly on the seat to the end. again, a weird mindless clueless absurdity sometimes is not a bad idea.

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A Single Shot

A Single Shot (2013)

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R - 116 min - Crime, Drama, Thriller - 25 April 2013
Big Blue Sky Rating : 5.9/10

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Director : David M. Rosenthal
Writers : Matthew F. Jones
Stars : Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Kelly Reilly, Jason Isaacs

The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.

Single shot

Which is actually more than enough in this case. I did not read the source material to this, but I did have the pleasure of watching this at the Berlin Internationl Festival. Sam Rockwell himself would have attended, but due to the storm having a party in America, he couldn't make the flight. While that bad, because it'd been awesome to see him up and close, it was also a relief, because he's just larger than life (one of the greatest actors of his generation is more than an apt description of him).

He does prove it in this movie too, which is much darker than I had expected. But he has a lot of help coming from the rest of the cast (great people involved here) and the script of course. As mentioned, I couldn't tell you the differences between the movie and the book. But the director did a great job here and I can only recommend this (not only because of the powerhouse performance by Sam)

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