By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Fran Kranz
Starring: Ann Dowd | Jason Isaacs | Martha Plimpton | Reed Birney
Country: united_states
Year: 2021
Running time: 110
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11389748/reference
Michael says: “Right from the very beginning there’s something vaguely stilted and manipulative about MASS. Maybe it’s the way they try to build up so much tension using extraneous characters just to make the film more than just four people in a room. The set-up is a little awkward, and tense, but I guess that’s the point. After all, it’s a meeting of two couples, one pair of whom lost their son in a school shooting, and the other pair whose son was the shooter. I’m not sure how you write a 110 minute film on that kind of meeting and not make it a little manipulative and stilted. What you do to make it all work, is hire some really strong actors who can carry the audience through the awkwardness and the emotional manipulation on the convincing power of their acting. These actors do not shy away from the intensity — they embrace it. The emotions these characters are feeling are so complex, so tangled, and the four powerhouse performers convey all of that. I was expecting a lot from the women. Martha Plimpton isn’t used enough, and she’s like a secret weapon when she’s given a good part. She brings it home beautifully here, and for her performance alone, i would have thoroughly enjoyed this film, but Ann Dowd has proven over the past 5 – 10 years that she is a force to be reckoned with, and she does so again here as the mother of the shooter — the most openly emotional and shattered in many ways. The men surprised me. Jason Isaacs has the showy role. He’s one of the guys, and he’s the one who veers toward anger, all the white strangling on the emotions he can barely restrain. Isaacs does a pretty good job reigning things in to a simmering, but powerful level, and only succumbs to showiness briefly. Reed Birney, often stealing attention as a character actor in the Beth Grant way, is the surprise for me in MASS. His tightly wound, restrained delivery can come across as cold, but look at his eyes, and the haunted, haggard look he’s sharing with the audience. This is a man who’s broken inside.
“It’s an interesting tale for a first time feature writer/director to tackle, and Kanz gets away with it largely because he is first and foremost, an actor, with dozens of TV and movie credits on his resume. He clearly knows what an actor needs to work in a film like this, and he gives it to his cast. If it is a few of the choices he makes in the writing and direction that you want to quibble with, so be it. My only real problem with the films comes right at the end, where there is some spirituality forced into play for little reason. Kanz, for the most part, stays out of the way, and allows his actors to take us on an intense journey for nearly two hours, and i must say I was with them all the way. 4 cats”
Diane says: “I’ll be nom’ing Martha Plympton for actress in MASS. She just steals your eyes!
“The setting is simply this: two couples meet in a small room to hash things out. I can’t believe this wasn’t an adaptation from stage. I admired the variety of camera angles in this very closed-in set.
“Powerful. But, forgive me, I thought it got a little trite at the end! 4 cats.
“Seen on Amazon Prime.”
Brett says: “Since we’ve had a small wave of comments that cut against the grain of popular opinion lately, I’m taking a deep breath and submitting my take on the film MASS, despite my better judgment just to sit on my thoughts instead.
“I prefer films that resemble stage plays to remain stage plays unless there is significant cinematic impact on a script. Editing and direction play a role here for sure, but it all still feels like a disguise that excuses this cloaked stage play from remaining what it should be: a stage play. I also realize there is a lot of praise for the performances among some viewers and critics, but there is something about circular acting (which I see a lot of here, if I’m being honest) that leaves a little to be desired for me. Quality work here that fits with a certain style, no doubt, and I get the appeal for some, but—for me—it definitely feels like ‘performance’ and posturing here more than the gritty reality of the subject material at hand. It’s a script that is praised, but I can’t see it as anything more than a script that draws and begs for attention to its own writing, pacing, drama-bait anecdotes, and by-the-book ebb and flow rather than sincerity. Feels inauthentic all-around as if the film-makers really studied the how-to-tell-a-story playbook a little too hard and, in some ways, verbatim.”