There is a special charm in the ancient, long-sung stories about small half-live towns on the outskirts of infinity. With special zeal dive into such stories, if you yourself live in a similar location, and if you think that you have seen and heard everything on this topic, but want more.
Small Town Crime is a lost, but unexpectedly after eternity found a set of Turbo liners. A worn but important present from the always best past, for such a present. So is this movie. It seems that absolutely and even more than absolutely – you will not see or feel anything new.
John Hawks plays great, and the atmosphere in the picture is really flashing. It seems like watching a Coen movie from an alternate universe, then Tarantino pulls up to the finale to let off steam through the waste of ammunition and blood. And here the dialogue is good, and even there is humor such, slightly gloomy, toxic, vital.
In general, cinema, as they say, on all fronts – indie. He passes by a mass spectator, no one sees him or praises him. I really like this kind of crime drama. Fortunately, they came out quite a lot, and Jeremy Solnier and did create a couple of cult paintings in a similar mood. I suggest.
A seasoned cop. Looks like an older D.J. Kullas. However, he has a natural problem with alcohol. The love for the hot, almost took away from Mike's social status, and already forfeited the post of policeman. That's the price of drinking. Round the clock spending the night in a drunken frenzy, Candle naturally finds himself here and there. Fortunately, Mike’s wheelbarrow is on the move, which favorably allows the ex-cop to expand the boundaries of his alcoholic adventures. In one of these familiar for Mike stamped strong sulk evenings, in the habitually drunken frenzy comes our hero, in the desert Chegira. Where in the morning there is a cute view of the prairies, somewhere in the same region the bloody bodies of beautiful strangers appear. Good reason to drink. But, inside, somewhere between the alcohol content, and the general disregard for the appearance, somewhere out there, suddenly, there is still gunpowder, and Candle begins to feel a clear need no longer for a green snake, but for unraveling the resulting, along with the body of a bloody stranger tangle of secrets. A cop suffering from withdrawal with a tarnished reputation is promptly taken for his own investigation.
The adventures of a drunken, no longer a policeman, begin as a firmly stated comedy. However, they easily acquire the features of a pocket noir-a, in a modern way. The thing is that the protagonist, or protagonist, has a very versatile character. He is certainly a scumbag, over the years of hungrily leisure, but at the same time, still in places a worthy person who has not forgotten how to distinguish between the concepts of good and evil. Without lowering the degree towards comedic curvature and clearly keeping the mark at the level of the image being played. I can tell you that John Hawks is coping with the role, without a stupid overplay in the clichéd. Drinking cunning fox, without a hint of drama of the situation of personal life, on the contrary - he is high. The image of an honest sloppy with a set of bad habits is more appropriate. The wicked little man is the instrument of honest thought, and the punishing hand of justice, in one person.
And around bars, booze, corrupt maidens, and sociopaths are scouring in search of a sniffing something cheerful alcoholic. Yeah, night freeways. It’s funny that in terms of the plot, the film does not take away any wise wilds. This is a traditional crime, the scale of one-story America, somewhere on the border with Mexico. But Trejo's not here. There is another equally colorful episodic, but more commercial, Mexican. Immigrants, backwater diners, political correctness of family ties, everything is in full swing, and people still continue to disappear. Nothing fundamentally new, but firmly in the spirit of favorite detective stories from the outback, pulp-criminal, for the unsophisticated. There are also traditional, as far as the style of narration allows, villains, bored, suddenly, did not have to. Especially since the main trump card of cheap crime-dialogues is, and aged in barrels under Tarantino sauce.
And that means one thing, there will be blood. A lot of blood. And drama, like a spicy drop of martinis sauce, or any other mumbler served behind bar counters in the backwoods district where Mike lives. As long as lawn mowers buzz on green meadows, and smiling neighbors carefully pull up newspapers from the doorsteps in the mornings, until these very times, and the stories of this tailoring will flourish, please the viewer’s eye. It's very fertile soil, damn it.
Mike Kendall (John Hawks) is a former police officer who was fired from his job due to drinking, costing the life of his partner and another accidental victim. Now Mike lays at the collar with doubled energy and tries to find at least some work, so as not to sit on the neck of relatives – sister Kelly (Octavia Spencer) and her wife Ted (Anthony Anderson). One day, returning home after another drink, he finds the wounded body of a girl by the side of the road. Mike takes a stranger to the hospital, but she soon dies. Then the hero begins his own investigation, seeing in this, firstly, a chance at least once in his life to do something useful, and secondly, finally to improve a little hopelessly shaken reputation.
The script “Crimes in a Small Town” was written by the brothers Ashom and Ian Nelms. They also directed the film themselves, inviting John Hawkes, a 58-year-old actor with an ordinary appearance, who you could see in secondary roles in a hundred different films and TV series (for example, in the recent Three Billboards). Here he for some time gets the central image, and it turns out that the charisma of Hawks quite allows him to perform and solo.
In the atmosphere and entourage of "Crime ...", by the way, also resembles the aforementioned "Bilboards". The same rednecks on the last pennies are pumped with cheap beer in roadside bars. There's unemployment and creditors, prostitution and crime, all the things we love. Even the crime is essentially similar, only here the killer is eager to call to account not the mother, but the rich grandfather of the deceased (he is played by another veteran of episodic roles 76-year-old Robert Forster). It turns out a kind of village detective, not shy of his own provincialism, and sometimes knows how to laugh. In the film, positioning itself as a thriller, there are actually many funny episodes (for example, when the main character runs away from killers on a bicycle). At the same time, however, all the action manages not to slide into a frank comedy or parody, carefully balancing at the intersection of genres. This combination of tragic and comic in the plot unwittingly resembles the work of other brothers – the Coen. The certainty and immediacy with which the main character impersonates someone who is not, trying to impose his services as a detective, his unfading optimism, coupled with the absurdity of what is happening, all this is not new, but it looks quite cute. What is important, the story develops very dynamically: the whole action fits in less than an hour and a half, so there is no time for long prefaces, as there is no extra frame.
The denouement of the investigation turns out not to be very original: a series of murders eventually turns into a story of blackmail (hey, Cohen!) and a bloody shootout at the finish line. The finale desperately lacks some plot twist, and a more coherent social message, like the works of Taylor Sheridan, would fall into place. But the detective line here is obviously not the most important of the components. It's more of a detective story. Or rather, how a person gets a second chance and uses it, while remaining himself. In the final credits, you catch yourself thinking that what you see even slightly resembles the pilot of the future series - and watching the sequel would be at least interesting.
7 out of 10
The movie was pretty good. Its attractive atmosphere, fascinatingly immerses in itself. The plot is simple, but quite clear. All events revolve around the main character (John Hawkes) - a retired cop, abuses alcohol, giving him an invigorating tone. After the death of a young girl, the policeman begins to realize that everything is not so clean in this case, the hunt for the next victims (the ladies who knew the murdered one) is gaining momentum and will affect everyone who will be woven into this vast chain. From this moment begins the difficult redemption of the hero in his position.
I think that for better perception, the film lacks a little more backstory about the custody of relatives of color (Anthony Anderson, Octavia Spencer) over Mike Kendel, in addition to a slightly wider disclosure of other characters, so as not to seem faceless. Joined partners, in the search for criminals, know their value, they also have something to get even with the killers. The final shootout - serves as the most savour, the dignity of the picture. But the ending, in my opinion, could also be varied, adding a sharp turn, in general, the ending presented does not spoil the impression.
'Crime in a small town' - crime detective of 2017, with a good addition of elements of action movie, thriller and comedy (frequently traced black humor). Action with an abundance of bloody scenes is felt quite well, so in this tape, there are many interesting things.
6.5 out of 10
"Small Town Crime" is a 2017 crime detective telling the story of a retired police officer who abuses alcohol. After another swell, he suddenly finds the body of the murdered girl, and takes up the investigation as a last chance for rehabilitation, but not everything is so simple - the search for the killer leads a private detective into such dark affairs that all his relatives are in danger. Starring: John Hawkes, Anthony Anderson, Octavia Spencer.
Acting play. I would not say that all actors fit into their roles. Octavia Spencer, for example. I understand black actors can play white dude sisters, but there's no explanation here. Why is the main character's sister black? Is she a sister at all, or does he and his friends just call her that? It could have been easier. Just take on the role of sister white actress. It doesn’t affect the script, and that’s the problem. John Hawks pulls the part well. He, despite all the flaws in the script, does his job almost perfectly.
Script. Is it me, or have I seen it somewhere? Almost everything in this movie is too banal. A drunk ex-cop trying to get himself back on track isn't Max Payne 3? No, not Max Payne 3, it's been a lot more diverse. There are two inappropriate and stupid jokes. They do not fit into the narrative part of the film so much that it begins to seem as if the director decided to add them himself, so, for fun. But it wasn't fun at all. Drinking cop, investigating the murder of a girl, bichar in the form of a local "criminal authority" - I expected more.
The film in general. I wouldn’t say it looks like a movie at all. I think it’s closer to the average series, released on some Netflix, no more. But the function of the average series he performs, because his desire to watch to the end, and it is already pleasing.
"Small Town Crime" is an average movie. You probably won’t want to watch it, and you’ll forget about it in a couple of hours, but this movie does its job – it allows you to get carried away, albeit with a banal plot with a couple of frankly inappropriate jokes.
John Hawkes is personally known to me as a performer of secondary roles (maybe he was the main character somewhere before, I don’t know) and, it is worth admitting, many of his characters are people who are always charming and disposed to themselves, regardless of whether they are negative or positive. “Identification”, “Everest”, “Three Billboards on the Border of Ebbing, Missouri”, “Infection”, “Gangster”, “Hardball” – his track record is impressive and here – “Crime in a Small Town”, which pulled the Oscar nominee to the forefront.
Hawks plays a former cop here, who even when he was a pharaoh attached himself to a bottle, and after one incident he found peace at the bottom of a container with intoxicating contents. The incident became a kind of psychological trap in which the hero of John Hawks was stuck in it for a long time. The suspension only aggravated his situation, although he had a fairly good sense of bloodhound and, despite his alcoholism, was able to go in the right direction in the investigation of a case. How low he descended can be judged by the next binge, as a result of which a battered man woke up in a wasteland. And then - a terrible find on the track and a chance to start, if not all over again, then go on the way back to normal life. And the main character clings to this chance, still attaching himself to the bottle, but realizing that life gives him the opportunity not to be forgotten every evening, and to do the work that he succeeds, he takes up the investigation.
The Nelms brothers, who shot Crime in a Small Town, gathered a good cast, where in addition to Hawks, another Oscar nominee Robert Forster, the owner of the Octavia Spencer statuette, as well as Anthony Anderson and Clifton Collins, Jr., they, as well as other actors, played diverse actors from hard and principled rich to soft-bodied and domesticated men following his wife at the first call.
The film is shot in the spirit of a criminal detective, in which the number of deaths increases in a snowball, giving the viewer to understand that everything in the case for which the hero of Hawks is taken is not as simple as it seems at first glance and the murder on the track is only a flower. One thing is clear: the people behind this crime will stop at nothing and will continue to walk over the corpses until the last witness is removed. With that in mind, the massacres and the final shootout look very impressive. The cruel and bloody scenes seem to savor the moment of death, as if the directors get aesthetic pleasure from it.
Undoubtedly, John Hawks played his part well, becoming the main star of the film. His lean physique combined with brightly outlined facial features and wrinkles even without makeup create the impression that his hero is a drunk. Well, if you add a crumpled jacket and ragged gray hair, please! Ex-alcoholic cop ready to shoot! I think that along with him, this role could also be successfully performed by another actor similar in type - Ethan Hawke.
"Crime in a Small Town" left a good impression. Along with a good plot, fascinating plot and intriguing investigation, the film has good dynamics, reveals the characters so that in relation to them there are no understatements. And of course, it is impossible not to note the finale, according to which you can understand one simple thing for yourself: even if you try to get out of the shit, it is not the fact that in the process you will not smear the crap of your loved ones. If in one place everything goes well, then in another a thin thread can break, as the dialogue between Hawks and Anderson demonstrates.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
The brothers Nelms did not reach the more eminent two brothers in the genre, but "Crime in a small town" a good start on the way to such goals. This film somewhere even returns to the era of the early 90s, interestingly placed accents on the characters, the atmosphere of the film - with this thriller flashed a lot of associations during viewing.
What makes this work really interesting is the charisma of actor John Hawkes, who appeared in Massive Attack's "Take It There" video as the final rehearsal for his role in the film by the Nelms Brothers, keeping the bottle out of his hands and falling through every second step. Undoubtedly, a talented actor who may not be able to climb to the top of Hollywood, but the actor is able to give many strong roles.
Hawks plays a sacked police officer who married on a bottle after being fired, but decides to redeem himself when he finds the corpse of a young girl. Along the way, in search of criminals, he joins other types, and together they must confront a pair of killers who cover their tracks after this crime.
If you want to move away from the trends of the genres of action, thriller or comedy - "Crime in a small town" should give you some freshness, an excellent film with old-school shades, good acting and quite high-quality production as for the resources given to this project.
8 out of 10
A retired police officer, who has lost his badge due to his own stupidity, burns through a meaningless life in roadside taverns and bars for a very dubious contingent, washing down an already clouded mind. Continuing to drag from one bar counter to another and collecting the judgmental looks of passers-by and the ridicule of former colleagues, the hero of John Hawks, returning from his next party, finds a brutally beaten young girl on the side of the road. Despite an urgent delivery to a hospital, the girl dies, and the main character takes on the investigation of her death regardless of the police investigation, but encounters certain difficulties on his way. . .
I would like to say right away that the film surprised me pleasantly, as I did not expect anything supernatural from the directors’ duo that I did not know before. This, by the way, did not happen, but the Nelms brothers managed to stage a very pleasant crime drama about the professional (and not only) rehabilitation of a lost cop. In fact, this is a very common concept in movies like this, where detectives are portrayed as desperate alcoholics with a lost soul, but, damn it, it works over and over again! The script of the film by the Nelms brothers successfully reveals the personality of the main character, and the excellent play of John Hawks allows you to believe in the sincerity of his actions. It is worth noting that the film does not try to play on dramatic threads, and even vice versa: an interesting detective investigation is very successfully diluted with small portions of black humor, which saves from unnecessary peeping at the hands of the clock.
For complete happiness was not enough, perhaps, only some plot twist in the end, as all the key characters we show somewhere in the middle of the story, and trump cards in the sleeve of the directors by the end is no longer left. Yes, with the local budget framework, you can thank for a good shootout in the final scene, but still the other brothers (who Cohens), as well as the best representatives of this genre, accustomed to unexpected endings, and in ' Crimes in a small town' everything ends quite peacefully, calmly and predictably. But nevertheless, it is worth paying tribute to Ian and Ash Nelms for good solid work, which is not ashamed to recommend for viewing. An interesting plot, strong characters performed by good actors, good musical accompaniment, and even some kind of directorial style, which distinguishes this picture from other similar films. In general, I was pleased with the viewing, which I wish you!
7 out of 10