By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Starring: Ariela Barer | Forrest Goodluck | Kristine Froseth | Lukas Gage | Sasha Lane
Country: united_states
Year: 2023
Running time: 103
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21440780/reference/
Brett says: “In what promises to be one of the most distinctive films of the year, director Daniel Goldhaber follows up his uniquely effective thriller CAM with another one-of-a-kind thriller, this one affiliated with the cause of environmental activism. The title HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE might come across as too aggressive on a first glance and lead one to believe this will be one gigantic propaganda film. It is surprisingly not that, however, and therein lies the effectiveness. The title is reflective of an extreme response from a cast of characters whose individual stories get half of the attention from the film while the other half is tied to the action-filled intensity in trying to pull off the title feat.
“Eight unlikely characters, each with their own motivations, come together in heist-like fashion to try to win one for the environment and the future of all of humanity by dismantling a major means of oil supply in West Texas. In assembling the eight rebels with a cause, the tone of the film does a fabulous job of toeing the line and making audiences care about the characters. The intensity aligned with the scope and difficulty of their mission heightens the audience’s senses along the way. The film is careful not to become too didactic which is important in not interfering with the audience’s visceral reactions to the overall experience. Ultimately, empathy for each character in their own way is the goal first and foremost, not to convince audiences to raise up arms and join the cause by the end of the film.
“The film uses an effective nonlinear structure to tie moments back to how the characters found themselves in the current situation and timing each of those flashbacks to sequences that are pertinent during the building and preparing of the bomb itself. The action sequences are so rife with tension that the tie-ins to each person’s life prior to the title incident is a needed reprieve at times. The cross-cutting also builds a pretty impressive, nuanced narrative in doing so. Pounding the intensity leading up to those cuts from the objective at hand is the amazing industrial/electronic musical score that serves as the heartbeat of the film, pulsing along with the viewers’ hearts as the stakes begin to ratchet each notch higher. An important element added to the tension of building and preparing this complicated bomb operation is that the film does not alienate the viewers with the complexity of what it is showing during the bomb preparation phases. Instead, it brings the audience in to the operation and goes into a depth that other films featuring explosives often get wrong or are lazy with.
“HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE is a risky narrative about the state of our planet’s threatened b sustainability. However, by keeping the focus on the characters’ individual drives, it is a premise that works very nicely and delivers in a way few—if any—films of this type ever have. 4 cats out of 5“
Diane says: “I expect that PIPELINE will be one of my bests of 2023. As Brett noted, the propulsive score works really well. The structure of the movie is creative, as we are dropped right into the action immediately, and then repeatedly take steps back while the action plays out “off-screen.” Personalities of the eight bombers are clear, differentiated, and authentic.
Tom M. says: “May I be the voice of dissent? The film doesn’t work without the score—100%, yes! I’d love to see it get a nod in that cat (cat or category at the Oscars)… but the characters needed way more meat, it was like hey let’s go to the woke aisle of central casting and pull one of X, one of Y and one of Z off the shelf, oh yeah and since we’re being extra inclusive and environmental abuse piss off those of all ilks, let’s throw in the angry ex-vet white, red necky Texan guy too; all boxes check, but they forgot to stop in the aisle of souls. Some are deeper than others, Barer, who wrote it, Lane and Goodluck’s characters feel deep enough, the Bonny and Clyde surfer guy and that Texan dude, not so much… Don’t get me wrong, love the messaging, it’s a solid effort, I just felt the filmmaker was trying too hard in his effort to control the audience’s point of view plot wise and worked too arduously to keep the tension at a maxed out peg, which I felt bled through after a while and took away from the character studies, which were more sketches.”