Tomato Red

There is nowhere in Arkansas that looks like this. It was filmed in British Columbia. That was my first issue with this film. I was intrigued to watch by the named actors.

Great beginning, 1st Q. Then it draws to a pace that, as visually artistic as it is, and it is, it just goes too long without dialog and movement. Lulls to a crawl. Good sub plots although the main plot is fairly monotone. Then the ending is really just stalled on a big decision. Short resolution that never does tell us why.

Decent Music. Very Good actors. The three main of them grew from this, I would imagine.

It's the pace, for me.

The title and poster led me to expect this to be a completely different film than it turned out to be, namely an action thriller, but actually it is Southern Gothic drama with some mild thriller elements. Now, this is not necessarily a problem for me personally because I am open to be surprised, but I wonder if this might have hurt the film's marketing.

The movie is competently executed and features passable acting, but I could just not get rid of a constant feeling of annoyance at watching one poor life choice after another, with practically no insight into the consequences, by several of the major characters, right up until just before the end of the movie. When, at that point-finally!-each of the three main characters attained an insight, it struck me as so profoundly cynical that I could not get myself to care about it.

I realize that this may very well be the point of the movie: to depict the grim lives of the bottom barrel of society, hopeless, with flawed moral systems and an inability of its members to find a way out of their situations, and where every poor choice is bound to both be punished more harshly than it deserves by society, and to serve as a prelude to further poor choices.

As far as what a drama could be about, it is actually a really good point. But when there is too much of that, then one eventually stops caring about the characters, and that is what happened to me here (except for the character of the mother, who did elicit some feelings of pity).

If you're into action films, this is not for you. If you're into thoughtful films and willing to meet the characters where they are at in their reality, and you're open to the fact that this represents a plight that many humans are born into, then this is worthy of your time. You really can't go too far wrong when Julia Garner or Anna Friel decide a fim is worth participating in.

My biggest problem with the film is not in the actors, the characters, the writing, or the cinematography. It's that since I was raised in the Ozark and have lived in California, I know that the mountains in the background look more like the Central Valley of California than they will ever resemble the Ozarks. They may have gotten away with it if it weren't for the wide shots, but it also looks too dry. The reality is that this film was shot in Canada. I wish the scouts would have researched the terrain and geography of the Ozarks better because if you're going to say a film is based in Missouri, in the United States and it's a major component to the plot, then it visually needs to be believable. The mountains in the background completely took me out of the film. At least Julia moved on to the acclaimed TV series "Ozark" where even though it's not shot in the Ozarks, it sure as heck looks like it because of all the location research they did to ensure it has an authentic look and feel for sense of place.

This film has some great actors- and pretty good performances. The dialogue goes in and out from natural to poetic... but then it switches into self conscious, kind of stilted pronouncements that reminds us that someone wrote this dialogue and is trying to be profound and important.

The main challenge, though, is that the "holler"-ostensively a thickly wooded valley in the Ozarks- is shot in some desertlike part of Canada. Ok, so there are some large, dry mounds around that could signify "mountains", but come on! Are the Canadian Film Board subsidized tax breaks worth making it impossible to suspend disbelief for the entire film? Nope!

Spectacular, is the only way to describe this "gem" of a Canadian movie. Though not sure how "Canadian" it is as mostly american and 1 british actors/actresses. Must be the money. Always follow the money : ( But still filmed in Canada, that counts for something (mostly tax credits, but what ever) Still is a very "great" movie. Lots of smoking (I'm a smoker, so I approve), and lots of quirky fun. How in the heck the Irish are involved I don't see, must be the money trail again. Capitalism soooo sucks : ( 10 out of 10 from me : )