Stillwater review

STILLWATER:

GRIPPING CRIME DRAMA HAS A FEW PLOT HOLES, BUT MATT DAMON AND ABIGAIL BRESLIN KEEP IT AFLOAT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

FOCUS FEATURES AND DREAMWORKS PICTURES

Matt Damon in Stillwater

 

            An oil worker from Stillwater travels to Marseille to prove his convicted daughter’s innocence in Stillwater, the new film from director, Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, Win Win, Spotlight) who won the 2015 Best Picture Oscarwith the gripping biographical film, Spotlight. The film is loosely based on the true story of Amanda Knox, a woman who spent almost four years in an Italian prison for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher (For which she did not commit!). 

            Stillwater seemed like it was going to be what Spotlight was for Catholic churches, but for wrongful imprisonments and both McCarthy’s talent as well as the acting talents of Matt Damon (Bourne franchise, The Departed, The Martian) will surely make it into another strong awards contender right? Not exactly, it is good, but…not quite Oscar worthy like Spotlight was! 

            The film follows Bill Baker (Damon), an oil worker from Stillwater, Oklahoma who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin-Signs, Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland 1 and 2) who has been imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit. When she seizes on a new tip that could exonerate her and urges Bill to consult her legal team, Bill decides to take matters into his own hands in hopes to prove his worth and regain his daughter’s trust. 

            Bill is quickly slammed with cultural differences, language barriers, and a complicated legal system, but when he meets French actress and mother, Virginie (Camille Cottin-Allied, Killing Eve, House of Gucci), the two of them embark on a journey of truth, love, liberation, and trust as they work together to prove Allison’s innocence. 

            The film also stars Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County (Stage performance), The Visit, The Exorcist (TV series)) as Sharon and William Nadylam (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Patrick. 

            Overall, Stillwater may not have the same emotional punch that Spotlight had, and it has a few plot holes by the end, but it’s still a very well-crafted film with Damon and Breslin’s performances being the highlights. I’ve always been a fan of Damon, but I have to say, he is phenomenal in this movie and could easily be one of his best performances, he owns every scene that he’s in and you feel the commitment in everything he’s doing to get his daughter out of prison, you want him to succeed even if he has a couple of…questionable solutions to the problem. 

            Same goes for Abigail Breslin, her role in this shows exactly what she’s capable of doing as an actress and in my opinion deserves more work and attention. I know she’s not Little Miss Sunshine or the twelve-year-old, Little Rock from Zombieland anymore, but you give her the right script and she will make a huge impression.

            For the most part, the plot and subject matter are very well-handled, but there are a few issues I had with the pacing and some of the plot elements that were unresolved by the end. Some of the scenes of Matt Damon with the French actress and her eight-year-old daughter go on a bit too long and while most of them are done well, at times it grinds the movie to a slow crawl when it could have focused more on Damon getting his daughter back. 

            Another issue I had is the scene where Damon finds and interrogates the person who did the murder, similar to what Hugh Jackman did in Prisoners which I would have been fine with, except later on in the film they never follow up on that. Did he escape? Starve to death? Did Damon let him go? Did the police find and arrest him? These questions are left unanswered, unless it was explained very briefly, and I completely missed it. 

            Flaws aside, Stillwater is a very solid movie with excellent acting by Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin, an interesting plot, and a thoughtful approach to timely themes. It isn’t the next Spotlight, but it doesn’t need to be, it can just be a well-made movie with a strong plot and compelling characters, which is exactly what it is.