Sword of Trust

From the outset, I was a little nervous about how I would like this film. Marc Maron can be abrasive but I do sometimes like his comedy. I am the sort of person that used to skip his rants to get to the interview on his now famous podcast "WTF." Even that, though, I tired of so I wondered if I would be similarly motivated to eventually check out of this film.

I was in for a bit of a treat though. This film, while tapping into Marc's talents, is definitely not simply his voice thrown on the big screen. There are a lot of really great laughs, awkward moments, incredulous circumstances, and zany antics from everyone involved in this film.

The setup for the film is that a couple, Mary (Michaela Watkins, "The House") and Cynthia (Jillian Bell, "Inherent Vice"), are given a sword from the Civil War by their dead Grandfather. In a dementia scrambled note, He details a winding and contradictory narrative that ends in this thought; The sword proves the South won the war.

They end up deciding to try to sell it for an astronomical sum of money and introduce Mel (Marc Maron, "Almost Famous") and Nathaniel (Jon Bass, "Loving") into their little scheme since they know where they can find people who will believe the sword's sordid history and pay dearly for it and the light it sheds on an alternate history.

I won't get any further into the plot but the setup should be enough to see that there is a lot of opportunity for humor in this film especially with a cast that is as funny as this one. What I wasn't expecting was the layers of conversation and depth that the film was going to bring to bear on such an, on the surface at least, ridiculous premise.

For example, the women get this sword and are disgusted by the fact that their grandfather thought the South won the war, and probably along with it, a lot of other out there stuff. So they don't want it.

But they do want the money it could fetch them so they head to the pawn shop where they proceed to try to convince the owner that the sword really is the sword that should have ended the war because that would be worth more money.

The film constantly turns truth on its head like this, making fun of people who basically say and believe whatever is convenient to their ends or giving us heartfelt scenes where people are facing things from their past and how we tell ourselves stories then rewrite them in our brains to make us feel better about them not caring so much about their veracity.

I just finished watching "Sword of Trust" and I give it above average marks as a movie. I thought it had good entertainment value, it had something to say without preaching it, it was well cast and well written. It was a low budget movie which used its resources wisely. And above all, it made no pretentions to be anything but what it was, and that puts it above average right there. I was not familiar with the works of Maron or Shelton prior to this movie, but I will look out for their names in future. The story is simple and contains appropriate weirdness for this time in which it was made. Early on a pair of women receive an unexpected inheritance from the estate of an ancient relative: a Civil War sword that is argued to be "proof" that the South won the Civil War. I think writer even invented a new internet term, 'prover' (at least I had not heard it before). A pawnshop owner gets involved and the action mostly revolves around the interactions of the characters involved. I enjoyed Marc Maron's writing and acting, the writing was wryly humorous and observant. The acting was understated. I especially liked Jon Bass' performance as the internet junkie (barely) staffing the pawnshop. Michael Watkins and Jillian Bells' character interactions were believable to a point and well acted. Supporting character Toby Huss was properly 'over' acted and Dan Bakkedahl was solid. I think it was well directed, well acted, the dialogue was cute and humorous for the most part. The background music went well with the rural/ semi-suburban ambiance of the picture, which I also liked. Some of the action is improbable, but it is no more improbable than most movies, including high dollar high attendance shows that are not as entertaining. This movie is about ordinary Americans in an age where the most ridiculous ideas are peddled to all and sundry allowing anybody to partake of any of a collosal amount of conspiracy theories including that the earth is flat. If you like this movie at all you may be interested in a great audio album that predates the internet by a couple score years but does not predate the current insanity: Firesign Theatre's "Everything You Know is Wrong". It was consistently funny and way way ahead of its time. And still is.

Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and her wife Mary (Michaela Watkins) visit Alabama, and learn that Cynthia has inherited a Civil War sword from her grandfather. They try to sell it to pawn shop owner Mel (Marc Maron), while Mel's slacker employee Nathaniel (Jon Bass) observes. But there's something special about the sword, which leads them to artifact collector "Kingpin" (David Bakkedahl).

7 Good The story, by Lynn Shelton and Mike O'Brien, is a rather silly, but makes an excellent framework for comedy improvisation. A story revision based on a script note added a nice touch of respect for southerners. Shelton does a very good job of directing. The main cast all deliver excellent comedy and good dramatic performances; Shelton herself is very good in a small dramatic role. Maron provides very good music.

Overall, I rate the film good.

Languages: English.

Rating: I don't think this film has a US rating (yet), but I'd guess it would rate a "R", for language.

If you ever listen to Marc Maron's podcast, WTF, this is a movie you won't want to miss. Also for fans of the Netflix series Glow, you're already familiar with Marc's accessible, honest work on the little screen. Don't believe any of the negative reviews for this film. Marc's performance is a tour-de-force, just check out the New York Times review of this original masterpiece. It's a quirky comedy, perfect for summer. Expertly directed with a wonderful tone, the film is worth watching twice, at least. Come on people, do we all just need to keep seeing pre-awareness content out of the Marvel universe which is sucking the life force and brain cells from us all? Rally around original movies that feature real talent and genuine craftsmanship. Also Marc plays all the guitar on the soundtrack and it's nice to hear.

I don't get the reviews giving this 1-3 out of ten, it's actually quite funny if you're the sort of person that can appreciate subtle humour as opposed the the endless steam of crappy American comedies starring the same handful of actors, I'm looking at you Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Katherine Heigl etc. I can only imagine those low scores are from low brow people that believe the conspiracy nonsense this movie pokes fun at.