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.

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!

No direction, no interaction between actors, and no storyline! If you watch this and don't agree in the first 15 minutes you're going to waste the rest of the hour and a half you watch this movie. What a shame for Julia Garner who carried Ozark in many episodes. But wasted or lost her talents in this snoozer. So let me put it like this if you read this twice you may get the message.

No direction, no interaction between actors, and no storyline! If you watch this and don't agree in the first 15 minutes you're going to waste the rest of the hour and a half you watch this movie. What a shame for Julia Garner who carried Ozark in many episodes. But wasted or lost her talents in this snoozer.

I'm generally biased against American films and their lack of subtlety but think I would watch any independent film with Julia Garner in it, she's that good. I also really enjoyed the honesty of the main character in his acknowledgment of his position in life. Sometimes a narration in a film comes across cheesy, and it was at times - but it was paramount to the film that the marginalized be given a voice. The cinematography is stunning also.

A looser meets other loosers. They bond and they both continue to struggle through their daily looser lifes. That's basically the story about these young, poor Americans, who live in constant poverty and sorrow.

The good: acting is good, yet not above normal good. The time that is taken to get to know these poor loosers is nice as well. It gives a good portrait of every character.

The bad: lacking spark. It lasts an half hour too long at least. And there is no real chemistry between the leading actors, who do act decently, but nothing above barely decent. Dialogues are good, but the general storyline is not very credible at moments and not very thrilling either.

Not bad, simply lacking just that bit of extra. Therefore only 6 stars.