by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
MASS, a new film that opens this Friday from Bleeker Street, is an exquisite head-spinning quartet with Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, and Reed Birney, directed by Fran Kranz. The pairs of distraught parents meet in a secular-feeling church setting to discuss the fatal encounter of their two sons. Yet what comes through the screen from this high-stakes encounter is an arc of masterly acting at its finest.
It is a must-see for audiences who may have forgotten the pure power of human-scale emotion on screen, as the special effects here are words once spoken that recreate and repurpose a devastating tragedy.
Reed Birney is a 2021 Gotham Awards Nominee for his performance as unraveling buttoned-downed father Richard, whose son’s radicalized anger turns to actionable violence against his fellow school students. But the other three players shoot the works here at the pinnacle of their craft.
Jason Isaacs as wounded father Jay Perry literally has piercing glances that sear his words, as onscreen wife Gail Perry (Martha Plimpton) holds onto her restraint by the barest threads opposite other mother Linda (Ann Dowd) who reaches down soul-deep to the recesses of her sorrow.
Judy, the Church administrator, played by Breeda Wool, and encounter facilitator Kendra (Michelle N. Carter) create their own microcosm of moods in this poignant and timely drama.
Watch the utterly harrowing and yet uplifting trailer for MASS
MASS is arguably a stunner debut for Fran Kranz, but it is unarguably a triumph for all the actors involved as among the best ensemble performances of 2021.
Director: Fran Kranz
Screenplay: Fran Kranz
Editor: Yang Hua Hu
Producers: Fran Kranz, Dylan Matlock, Casey Mott, J.P. Ouellette, Marissa Ghavami
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MASS opens wide Oct. 29, find your theater here from Bleeker Street.
(Thanks to FilmFest919, which hosted an advance screening during FF919 in Chapel Hill, NC.)
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