Film Review by FIORE
Scriptwriting guru Syd Field always averred “known your
ending before you begin writing”. Wise
words, but ones Writer Director Matthew Porterfield did not heed in his film
SOLLER’S POINT. The movie sludges
through various anecdotes, many seemingly unrelated, and rolls the end credits
with more unanswered questions than at the film’s beginning.
Keith (McCaul Lombardi) is home from prison, for a crime
that remains a mystery throughout the film.
He does, however, have a volatile temper, possibly due to the influence
of the punk music he constantly blares. He is attempting to put his life in
order, but consistently fails, disappointing his family and friends. His father, Carol, is played by Jim
Belushi. I’m not sure how Porterfield
corralled Belushi into this cameo role, but the material is weak for someone of
his stature. Perhaps favors came due.
Keith struggles through a series of events demonstrating
he is a societal misfit. He sabotages
endeavors to return to school or acquire some form of training. He attempts to avoid the criminal elements in
his neighborhood, yet always seems to irritate them. This is not a protagonist befallen by
terrible circumstances. This is an
anti-hero who is unempathetic and stupid.
SOLLER’S POINT also features Zazie Beetz,
Thomas Guiry and Marin Ireland.
The film is shot in and around the Baltimore area. Director of Photography Shabier Kirchner
gives the film a dirty look with inadequate lighting and soft filters. Editor Marc Vives arranges the sequences in a
slipshod chronological manner, but his transitions often add to the film’s lack
of clarity.
SOLLER’S POINT is a film where the viewer watches, waiting
for something to happen that will make sense of all that has transpired, but it
never does. As such, it has no purpose, no point, nothing to make it
watchable. It plays like a student film
project. Sponsored by the Greater
Baltimore Cultural Alliance in conjunction with the University of John Hopkins,
it may be just that. After the
disastrous events occurring in Baltimore, and the inept manner the city’s
elected politicians botched the results, Baltimore is attempting to spin a
campaign of hope and friendliness to the outside world.
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