Movie Review: Prospect (2018)

Genre: Science Fiction Drama  

Directors: Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell  

Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, Pedro Pascal  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: Space miner Damon (Jay Duplass) and his daughter Cee (Sophie Thatcher) land on a distant dust-filled planet to rendevouz with mercenaries. Damon is an expert at extracting a dangerous mineral from the planet's surface, but before he and Cee can get to their destination, they tangle with space adventurer Ezra (Pedro Pascal) and his silent partner. Violence ensues, forcing Cee to flee and reexamine who she can trust.

What Works Well: In this independent and low-budget drama, the writing and directing team of Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell imagine a future regressing to clunky technology, makeshift spare parts, and questionable medical interventions. The cinematography (filmed in the forests of Washington State) makes impressive use of a dense tree setting, and Sophie Thatcher is adequately monotonal as the young woman tapping reservoirs of inner strength to deal with adversity. 

What Does Not Work As Well: This is a grim, jargon-heavy, and character-light exercise in small world building. The key protagonists exist only at the sketch level, and the villains are free of any context. Most of the third act takes place in darkness, the action scenes are muddled, and the plot is devoid of new ideas beyond the most basic survival, human nature, and trust themes. 

Key Quote:

Ezra (to Cee): Listen... I know well the lure of vengeance. I, myself, have... frequently indulged and I have not often found regret.



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Movie Review: Pain Hustlers (2023)

Genre: Business Drama

Director: David Yates

Starring: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia, Catherine O'Hara, Jay Duplass

Running Time: 123 minutes

Synopsis: In Florida of 2011, single mom Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) is financially struggling to look after herself and her daughter Phoebe. She accepts an offer from executive Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) to join fledgling pharmaceutical firm Zanna. The company's one approved product is Lonafen, a fentanyl-based cancer pain medication developed by owner Dr. Neel (Andy Garcia). Liza's hustle snares the prescription business of Dr. Lydell (Brian D'Arcy James), and soon the big money starts rolling in. Neel's behaviour becomes more eccentric, while Liza and Pete push the limits in incentivizing doctors to prescribe the medication.

What Works Well: Inspired by actual events at Insys Therapeutics chronicled in Evan Hughes' book, this is a glossy inside look at the scuzzy profits-before-people pharmaceutical industry. Adopting some of the jovial tones from The Wolf Of Wall Street, director David Yates crafts a compelling and fast-paced rags-to-riches business story built on the hustle to sell product - in this case a synthetic opioid approved for sale based on dubious studies. Emily Blunt is excellent in personifying the greed version of the American Dream, as Liza builds a team of dropouts - including her mother (Catherine O'Hara) - snaring third-tier doctors happy to take a cut in the form of "appearance fees".

What Does Not Work As Well: It's all fun and games until someone dies, and here the victims are a sketched-in afterthought. Blunt is asked to carry the entire dramatic load, as Dr. Neel quickly devolves into a cartoon character and Chris Evans is unable to find a real person in the lightweight Pete Brenner. The portrayal of Liza's relationship with her mother is scrappy at best.

Conclusion: Sickness and suffering as an opportunity for slick success.



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Movie Review: Outside In (2017)

A drama and romance about second chances, Outside In interweaves three characters unmoored from their familiar lives.

In rural Washington State, Chris (Jay Duplass) is released from prison on parole after serving 20 years for murder. The crime occurred when Chris was 18, and his high school teacher Carol (Edie Falco) was instrumental in finally securing his release, working with a group advocating against mandatory minimum sentencing.

Now Chris struggles to fit back into society and emotionally leans on Carol as his only support, but she is unsure where Chris can fit into her life. Carol is trying to rescue a loveless marriage to Tom (Charles Leggett) and dealing with sullen teenager Hildy (Kaitlyn Dever). Meanwhile, Chris continues to resent his brother Ted (Ben Schwartz), who was also involved in the original crime but escaped punishment. Gradually Chris and Carol grow even closer, while Hildy forges her own connection with the released convict.

An independent production co-written by Duplass and director Lynn Shelton, Outside In is a heartfelt, human-scaled story about the struggle to detach from past anchors and seek new beginnings. With minimal melodramatics and an emphasis on quiet emotions, the film stays true to the grey reality of a small rain-soaked rural town (in this case Granite Falls, Washington) where change happens slowly if it happens at all.

While the pace is deliberate and some scenes are contextually stranded (notably, a through-the-window incursion into an undefined house), Shelton dives deep into the lives of Chris, Carol and Hildy to find shifting intersectionalities. Chris and Carol had established a rhythm through long phone calls when he was behind bars, but now their in-person interactions carry an awkward weight and need to be redefined. He has nothing but time on his hands and no one else to talk to, while she has a disintegrating marriage and emerging ideas about a new start in life.

And Hildy adds a curious dynamic. A teenager witnessing the dissolution of her parents' union and unimpressed by her mother's new-found interest in activism, Hildy withdraws metaphorically into angst and literally into the woods. When Carol rations her availability to Chris, her daughter steps in to fill the void. And with Chris halfway in age between mother and daughter but having lost the adult training phase of life in prison, the roles of guardian and learner sometimes meld and at other times fall through the cracks.

Jay Duplass is an introspected presence and occasionally defaults too quickly to bemused observer mode. Edie Falco thrives in one of her career highlights, creating in Carol a complex, caring woman approaching unexpected crossroads. Kaitlyn Dever delivers a welcome variant on the moody teenager persona, here adding hints of emerging adult empathy.

Tough as life is in prison, being an ex-con on the outside looking in also carries another set of challenges without a rule book.



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