The Frontier

Whos says 1970s maxi skirts, wrinkly pantyhose and unkempt, brown hair can't be sexy! Jocelyn Donahue, as Laine definitely pulls off a convincing performance of a sweet girl in a dangerously wrong situation, who wriggles through perilous scrapes with the innocence of a lamb, though, as we soon find she is neither of the two. Though "The Frontier" has the appearance of a 70s TV Movie, with suitable, "barn-find" automobiles and even more antiquated TV sets(!) the action keeps one guessing (admittedly unsubtle), and the script never fails to spring surprises, right to the end. The medium budget drama has both the aura of a road movie and a Western, but in this Western you tend to have just the Bad and the Ugly. In this respect "The Frontier" reminded me of "The Hateful Eight" (2015). Both movies tend also to be pretty liberal in the mistreatment of women, but in taking sexual equality at face value all's fair in love and Hollywood. I think it is more a movie for the guys, thanks to the presence of Laine, doubtless prissily pretty, never showing too much to prove it. The character of Flyn the Englishman was pretty weak, thanks to his difficulty in mastering the tongue, but if you remember only the goofs of a movie it tends to be a "baddun" - right?. "The Frontier", thankfully does have one or two saving graces, e.g. that pass-the-parcel swag- bag of dollars, the ruthless internecine bumping off of adversaries and that all so understandable corruptibility of humans.

A gritty American Southwest flick, The Frontier manages to capture a western outlaw atmosphere in a rustic wind blown environment.

A pretty, mysterious girl named Laine driving across the Arizona desert becomes temporarily employed at a diner to make up for food & lodging. The residents and customers therein are a motley lot, each with their own disturbing secrets, and each sharing a collective one as well. There's Eddie the rebel {a brash leather-clad young man reminiscent of Jim Stark/James Dean}; couple Gloria & Flynn are a British gentleman & a Jayne Mansfield-type girlfriend; Luanne, an eccentric former showgirl {diner owner, glamorous yet quite neurotic}; Lee is a stony bearded professor-like gentleman; & Officer Gault comes and goes, reminding one of a William Shatner character*, who takes a shine to Laine, especially evident in the end. Incidentally, despite a very close call with The Reaper, Laine merges with the unlikely crew of malfeasants awaiting their ill- gotten reward, utilizing venomous trickery to gain her own deadly remuneration.

With various unexpected twists and turns, the dangerous path throughout The Frontier leads to surprise lethal treasures awaiting those with a ruthlessly lawless disposition, where few survive. ∞

_____________

* i.e., Mark Preston of The Devil's Rain, Rack Hansen of Kingdom of The Spiders.

With its stylish cinematography and labyrinthine plot The Frontier is up there as one of the best of the bygone era of intentionally slow paced, suspenseful, well crafted film making. If you miss the films of yesteryear, the ones that had grit, character and an aesthetic sensibility, then you are going to want to see The Frontier. This film has all of that and then some.

Director Oren Shai takes you in to a dreamy, shadowy world that looks a lot like the covers of the hard-boiled pulp novels of the 50's and 60's. Every shot is gorgeously cinematic and my favorite thing about this movie is how much space Shai gives the viewer just to observe and revel in moments between the dialogue. The story is told as much through a frame on a characters face with a certain look in their eye, or a shot of landscape that portrays the remote emptiness they are surrounded by, as it is by its clever sharp-tongued dialogue. A haunting score adds to the richness of the visuals as well.

I won't give too much away about the plot, but the story centers around Laine (exquisitely played by Jocelin Donahue) who we don't know much about except that she's a girl on the run. Where she came from or where she's going nobody knows. All we know is that she stumbles upon a kooky set of misfit thieves, awaiting their loot in a dusty motel in the desert, and she seems to be trying to escape danger but has landed in to something that could be far worse. But the heroine is up to tricks of her own and soon we can't tell if she's the one in trouble or the one making it. The plot that starts off steady and cool, quickly becomes a roller coaster ride of twisty turns, girls with guns, double crossing, triple crossing and good guys gone bad, bad guys gone even worse. It's great fun to watch and just when you think you know what's happening, you're on to another jaw-dropping scenario.

All in all, it's very entertaining but also a great piece art. I'm very happy to have discovered this hidden gem and I highly recommend!

I think this was actually a very good film! I wasn't expecting much, but it's one of those films that don't appear to have a promising plot at first, but then it grows on you through the good acting and the steadily increasing suspense!

I just love the way Laine evolves as a character, or rather how we as viewers change the way we see her as the movie goes on... Very fine piece of characterization!

Some crime thriller taking place in a run-down motel off some desert road doesn't sound like a big deal, but this IS a very good suspense thriller, with a lot of unexpected plot twists! It had me at the edge of my seat for most of the second half. It's not the setting or even the events themselves that make for a GREAT film, it's the way they get to us as viewers, and this film really got to me :)

So I'd recommend this film to all lovers of suspenseful, unexpected thrillers :D

The Plot.

Laine, a young woman on the run from the law, turns up at the Frontier, an isolated desert diner and motel.

She is offered a job by Luanne, the owner, and, hoping to lose herself in the obscurity of the place, accepts the job. But soon Laine realizes she has stumbled into an even bigger and more dangerous situation.

Firstly, i like the Twin Peaks look of the film. But it's very slow and the female lead is not a particularly good actress. She brings the movie down.

The dialog is second rate. It's hard to emulate Lynch because he's genuinely quirky and knows how to make it work. In fact, the more I watched this film, the more I felt it was just a Lynch rip off thank anything else.