Fridae

These days the term 'B-movie' became synonymous with cheaply-made sci-fi, horror and what's known as the 'video nasty', but etymologically it began as an overarching term stemming from the days of Double Bills when two movies would screen back to back at the cinema at the same time, with the 'B' reel generally consisting of a more cheaply made and less high-profile picture. While anyone who has visited this forum has seen all the countless discussions of quality B-pictures that have existed throughout history, the term B mostly rings these days as a pejorative term.

Deadfall though, is the sort of movie that's a B-film all the best ways.

It's a small, lean and highly effective thriller that does as well as it can with what it's given, avoiding pretensions and ironies, and plunges the viewer straight ahead into a fast-paced Noir that would have been an ideal vehicle for the likes of Richard Widmark and Robert Mitchum. Right down to the fact just as those films would probably directed by a member of the Central European Diaspora, this film is the American debut of the Austrian Stefan Ruzowitzky, from a script by first-timer Zach Dean. The movie is a relentless, unpredictable little ride that relies not just on setpieces to deliver its thrills, but on its dependency on the merciless hairpin twists of human nature, fate and chance.

It's a cold day in Northern Michigan bordering Canada when close-knit and borderline incestuous brother and sister crooks Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) rob a casino around the same day that boxer-turned-convict Jay Mills (Charlie Hunnam) violates his parole in a fight. After a car crash that causes them to lose their ride, Addison leaves Liza searching for a way to pass the border while Liza finds herself hitching up with Jay. Jay it turns out is a fundamentally good-hearted lunkhead despite his troubles and inadvertently, the two develop a casual romance out seemingly of their shared desperation. Jay is also returning for Thanksgiving to see his parents June (Sissy Spacek) and Chet (Kris Kristofferson) Addison finds himself going on a trek across rural Michigan, killing a few backwood scum along the way almost by accident. Meanwhile, local deputy Hannah Becker (Kate Mara, yes, it's Lisbeth Salander's sister as an all-American Sheriff) who has just qualified for the FBI Academy is the victim of sexism on the local police squad led by her misogynistic father (Treat Williams) who'd rather not have her on the force. Yes, it's a movie about family issues as well with more than a touch of the Oedipal at work.

The characters start off as familiar types in the lingo of Film Noir: the anti-hero, the femme fatale, the hero, the parents, the law and order figure, the possible sweetheart, but the film subverts them in a way that manages to be unexpected yet plausible, so that by the end, the characters take on and end up going through roles that they never would have expected of themselves otherwise, in this way it also recalls Anthony Mann's Westerns in the way that the capricious twists of fate, chance and choice determine the characters' sudden, rapid identity shifts; a precarious state where finding redemption is a hair's breadth from eluding it. The cast all deliver above average performances; with everyone looking and feeling right in the part they play. Olivia Wilde shows she's about half a good actress given the right range, while Kate Mara exudes warmth and earnestness. Kristofferson and Spacek offer a package of vulnerability, strength and stoicism, and Bana is convincing enough in embodying a complex character in which streaks of compassion and cruelty both rage.

Deadfall is one of those movies you go see to just to see good actors go at a pulpy but substantive story, to see the simple joy of big thrills on a low budget, to see a film made with old-school craft, skill and dedication. Preferably on late-night TV, with commercial breaks just so you can discuss what's about to happen next.