"MASS" // SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2021

BY MATEO MORENO

The tragedy at the heart of MASS is one that we are all too familiar with, though hopefully most of us are not so acquainted with it that it's affected us personally. Mass school shootings have become common place, especially in America, devastating community after community. In Fran Kranz's directorial debut, he centers the drama around two couples who were personally affected by a school shooting and have both suffered a loss. Jay (Jason Issacs) and his wife Gail (Martha Plimpton) are on one side of the divide (Jay is now a gun control activist) while Linda (Ann Dowd) and her husband Richard (Reed Birney) are on the other, here to help them try and find comfort in whatever way they can. They've each come with the white flag raised, to talk and heal.

As one would expect, that's how it begins but emotions will eventually overtake them and the conversation will ebb and flow from subtle to enraged. Gail is quiet and still shattered from her loss. Jay has been fighting the activism fight and is quietly trying to hold everything together. Linda and Richard seem to have dealt with their tragedy in different ways. Gail is almost a soothing presence but also clearly broken while Richard has chosen to deal with his grief by trying to push it all down as much as he can. He's stoic and sometimes shut down, but never quite cold. Through their conversation, Kranz guides them like one would a powerful play: by letting the performances build and shine without any distractions to curve them.

There are a number of surprises within MASS, surprises that I won't spoil here, but as they dig deeper into them, the cast simply get stronger and stronger. Jason Issacs is wonderful, explosive and tender. His activist husband is both nurturing and compassionate with a powerful performance laying the groundwork around the group. Martha Plimpton may have turned in her finest performance yet here, grounded in a shattered nightmare and cracks our hearts slowly while attempting to heal them at the same time. Ann Dowd's performance is a surprise, not that I wouldn't have expected her to be stellar. She's one of the most reliably wonderful actresses working today, turning in one phenomenal performance after another. Her character is a surprise because of how soothing she continues to be, somehow sacrificing her own pain to help those around her. It's the most subtle performance of the four and, along with Plimpton, is the anchor to this ship. Reed Birney has maybe the most difficult character to side with on the surface, simply because his character's need to stay closed. But Birney makes it all the more affecting as you understand his motivations and see clearly the shattered man inside.

Kranz ignites his career behind the camera with a powerful force. It's wonderfully directed, never backing away from the lightening rod of a topic while always staying respectful. It's never exploitive and his intentions to help heal are apparent from the start. It's not an easy watch, but it's an important one. There will be, and should be, a lot of conversations after watching MASS. Hopefully those conversations will lead to change, because our children desperately need our attention.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Fran Kranz STARRING Jason Issacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Reed Birney SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: MASS

HOME IS WHERE THE HEALING IS // "COWBOYS" // TRIBECA 2020 FILM REVIEW

BY MATEO MORENO

The Western has been reinvented before, but rarely with such delicacy and tenderness then Anna Kerrigan's feature film debut COWBOYS. It's a dreamy slice of cinema, focusing on the characters and their relationships, especially the relationship of a father and son. The story is simple enough: Troy (Steve Zahn) and Sally (Jillian Bell) are a married couple who are raising a beautiful child together. When their child Joe (trans actor Sasha Knight) tells them that he is transgender, it marks a divide between them. Troy immediately accepts and understands Joe, while Sally doesn't understand or accept Joe's declaration. She continues to use female pronouns for Joe and refuses to let him out of the house wearing anything but dresses and female clothing. The rift gets bigger and bigger between the family. In one scene, Sally tells Troy, "No wonder she wants to be a boy. She thinks I'm a piece of shit." Troy responds matter of factly, "This isn't about you." Eventually, the rift breaks the couple apart, with Joe living with Sally exclusively. One day, after a brutal argument, Joe tells his father that he cannot live with his Mother anyone and Troy, who now cannot see Jo without Sally's permission, takes Jo in the dead of night and they both escape into the wild of Montana's wilderness.

What strikes such a beautiful cord is that although both Troy and Sally are deeply flawed characters, the film never judges their actions. Instead, it focuses on understanding them and their sometimes erroneous actions. COWBOYS takes its time, and the instinct to do so showcases some of the very best moments. Witnessing Jo silently study her father and his male friends at a bowling alley, watching their every move with facination paints a beautiful picture without ever saying a word. The wilderness exploring of father and son, with Jo's eagerness matched with his father's unending love takes your breath away, and only when you realize that he's essentially kidnapped his own child does the reality of the situation kick in.

Steve Zahn has never been better than he is here, and thankfully he finally has a film that trusts his spot on instincts. He is sympathetic and real, loving and manic. You feel for him in every frame of the film, even when you know you have to question his decision making. Jillian Bell is the harder character to understand, but luckily neither she nor writer/director Anna Kerrigan is interested in painting her a villain. She's a mother who is making some bad parental decisions over and over, refusing to listen to her child. But she deeply loves him, yet can't seem to understand him and the humanity washes over wonderfully. The wonderful Ann Dowd also appears as a local Sheriff, tasked with finding Jo. She's restrained and understated. However, the true scene stealer is Sasha Knight. Casting a trans actor to play this crucial role was, well crucial, and Sasha knocks it out of the park. Wise beyond his years, he pulls powerful emotion from his silence and when he does speak, he both captures and rips your heart out. The chemistry between Zahn and Knight is wonderful as well, as they truly feel like a loving father/son unit.

Add the incredible cinematography from John Wakayama Carey of the stunning Montana mountains and woods and you've got a quiet and affective portrait of a family trying to figure itself out. Kerrigan has crafted a beautiful and warm feature here. No one is perfect in COWBOYS, yet no one is claiming to be. They're each trying to simply make this day better than the last.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Anna Kerrigan STARRING Steve Zahn, Sasha Knight, Jillian Bell, Ann Dowd. Selected as part of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.