Rating: C+
Dir: Truman Kewley
Star: Adam Jones, Alexandrea Meyer, Karla Dudley
This is a difficult film to assess. The central character, Daniel (Jones), is an incel. He believes society has denied him the opportunity to find happiness by forming a relationship with any woman, and his response is to take that relationship by force. The victim is Madison Richards (Meyer), whom he abducts in his van. After spending time with her in the desert – time which includes sexual assault – Daniel takes Madison back to his house, and things get murky. Is the apparently growing relationship merely trauma bonding in action? Or is the victim simply trying to lull her captor into a false sense of security, so she can escape? Could be a little bit of both.
According to the director, the film was inspired by reading a mass shooter’s manifesto. Kewley says, “I felt an uncomfortable sense of understanding – not sympathy, but a recognition of the humanity buried beneath the monstrosity.” I will say, this is a brave direction to go, because it would be a lot easier to portray Daniel as that monster. A lot of people – and I would likely include myself here – are uncomfortable with a nuanced approach in this kind of situation. Cinema does not operate in a moral vacuum, and you can argue, those like Daniel do not deserve the benefit of anything close to a neutral depiction. That privilege vanishes the moment his van door slammed behind Madison: his point of view no longer deserves consideration at that point.
To go this route, it might have been more effective to have seen what made Daniel what he is. We join him already entrenched in the misogynistic mindset, but nobody is born that way, and he’s hardly ugly either: you’d think he’d be able to get a date. That said, Kewley is spot-on when he says, “People, especially young people, are falling through the cracks of a society that struggles to adequately address mental health issues.” Doing so, requires understanding and dealing with the causes, rather than the results, and the film is focused more on the latter. As such, despite a lot of voice-over, I don’t feel I reached the end having gained any significant insights. The incel world remains an entirely alien one to me: it makes no sense.
Setting aside the approach, Kewley does nail it in regard to providing a painfully accurate depiction of the scenario [Disclaimer: I have never abducted anyone, or been an abductee] This makes for uncomfortable viewing at times, especially when he just lets the camera run. And run. And run. Jones is also worthy of praise in a challenging role, with the almost thankless task of taking us inside the mind of a disturbed individual. I don’t think it all works: it seems to be the director’s first feature and a more experienced hand behind the camera might have been better able to handle the problematic topic. However, this is heavy stuff, executed with an appropriate sense of weight, and as debuts go, the willingness to go into such a dark place must be commended.
The film is released through Amazon on October 31.