Mass (2021) - 8/10
Oh boy. This is what I get for using a randomizer to pick a movie for me. I innocently see just a number and walk right into a minefield. I went into Mass with literally no idea what the film was about. I just hit play. And then I spent the next 110 minutes getting beaten by an emotional 4x4. Let's get into it.
This is an incredibly trimmed down film. Just four people sitting in a room together talking. It relies so deeply on the effectiveness of its actors and none of them disappoint. Reed Birney, Ann Down, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton all deliver outstanding performances. Every character feels real and authentic. I wanted to look away but couldn't because they were all so compelling and vulnerable. This must have been an exhausting film to shoot.
The thing that impressed me most was watching the actors follow the slow build of the script to its peak. Every line, every word is filled with subtext and you watch as their emotions simmer and boil underneath. Building and building until a climatic moment where they can no longer hold back what is eating at their core. The restraint, the patience, and the inevitable detonation are so wonderfully and emotionally done. Great actors emote, excellent actors force the audience to; and I was devastated along with these parents.
2. Cinematography
The key here was to keep the camera just interesting enough that the audience doesn't lose visual interest, but stay out of the way otherwise. The camera rotates slowly around the room. It changes vantage, it changes depth of focus, it varies in close ups and two shots and wides, it does whatever it can within the confines of what is appropriate for this story.
3. Production/Costume Design
Not much to note here since it takes place in a single location and the point is just simple realism for the setting.
4. Writing
After the credits started and I saw that the writer/director was Fran Kranz, I said "who?" Then I went on Wikipedia only to find out I was already a fan of this very talented artist who I first came to know from the show Dollhouse. I'm not sure what drove him to dive into this subject but I admire his dedication to tackling this subject and its execution.
The dialogue in this film is some of the best I have ever seen in terms of authenticity. This script completely blurred the line of four actually real people in a room talking. A lot of the credit of course goes to the actors, but the script from which they are working from is beautifully crafted. Each character is distinct with their own perspectives and emotions and triggers. Each character seems to go through a complete emotional journey while just sitting in a chair.
The subject matter is also an extremely difficult one to tackle. The first 30 minutes of this movie is just setting up the conversation. We learn the location, we learn the characters, and we see them dance around what will be at the heart of the movie. This entire script is designed as a painfully slow crescendo and decrescendo. Only at the 36 minute mark have we finally acknowledged that one pair of parents had a child die in a school shooting and the other set of parents were the ones that raised the shooter. From there the conversation truly begins as they work together and explore the incredibly complex nature of what happened, their own grief and what it even looks like to move forward, or if they even can. It will be another 30+ minutes until the film hits its actual crescendo, and we start to see a slow descent down towards some kind of neutral.
I don't think I ever want to see this movie again. But the writing was so good I may return one day, tissues in hand and more emotionally prepared to just appreciate its achievements.
5. Sound Design
Incredibly bare-boned but can be effective. There seemed to be some intentional choices that stuck out. One particular thing that caught my ear was the noticeably loud sound of Jason Isaac's character drinking a water bottle at one point. I think the idea was to highlight just how quiet it was in the room at any given time.
The moment of silence was also a surprisingly powerful moment during the decrescendo.
6. Editing
Much like the cinematography, the objective in this film is to just get out of the way. The first 30 minutes is incredibly painful in terms of pace, but for a purpose. The bulk of what happens in the room pauses only when it needs to let the audience and script take a breath. It was a great exercise in restraint.
I don't think there were any.
8. Originality or Strength of Adaptation
I think Mass takes a lot of its cues from theater and the story, though fictional, is obviously inspired by real life events (namely the Parkland shooting). There have been movies like this before, but I would argue this is a very original approach to both a film like this and the subject matter.
9. Stunt Coordination
I don't think there were any stunts. I'll just use this to praise the blocking and choreo of how the actors could utilize a small set to keep things engaging.
10. Direction
Kranz has spent the bulk of his career as an actor, one whose work I have enjoyed. But I am pleasantly surprised by his first film as a director and hope to see more from him in the future.
Legacy/Final Thoughts
Despite getting some attention during the awards season in 2022, this film went almost entirely missed by audiences. It's hard to get a look at streaming performance, but I doubt most people get past the synopsis on this one, which is a shame. It may be a simple movie in terms of scope, and it may be about a subject matter that most people will struggle to purposefully engage in, but it is a special film. We (humanity) are really bad at talking about these issues. We dehumanize and detach because staring directly at the realities that this film revolves around is hard and depressing. But if we are not able or willing to hear from each other and empathize with each other, then we are destined to stay motionless, in the same spot forever. I'm not going to go on a political rant about the subject matter being discussed here because this is just some dumb movie blog, but I fear for our species every time something like this happens and our response is thoughts and prayers, outrage, and then move on to the next thing. We never give ourselves an opportunity to actually sit down in a room and explore the nuances of how bad shit like this continues to happen. And that makes us all complicit.
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