I wanted this first review of the Spring semester to be one of a movie that really made an impact on me. I was a bit worried because I had only seen a few mediocre movies that I couldn’t find it in myself to review in depth recently. However, today I got the opportunity to watch Fran Kranz‘s film Mass (2021) and it was one that shook me to my core.
The film depicts a meeting between the parents of a victim of a school shooting and the parents of the perpetrator of the shooting. Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) have lost their son Evan to the shooting and have come to Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard (Reed Birney) with hopes to heal and get some closure. What ensues is a string of raw and emotional conversations between them.
Mass, technically speaking, is very simplistic. There is little to no music. There are no fancy editing tricks or visual effects. The colors are not filtered or distorted in any real way. In fact, the majority of the film actually takes place in only one room. This simplicity allows for the film to feel extremely stripped down and vulnerable. It feels real and honest, to a point of sometimes creating discomfort within the audience.
Without all of these other cinematic elements, Mass is left to be entirely rooted in its screenplay, and in the performances of the four main actors. I cannot imagine how daunting the knowledge of this information has to be for the actors, writer, and the director. They have to work with the knowledge that the success of this film lies completely and totally on their shoulders. And yet, none of them waver under the responsibility of their roles.
This film contains some of the most brilliant performances I have seen thus far with Ann Dowd and Martha Plimpton standing out and absolutely embodying their roles as anguished mothers who are both grieving their lost sons. Jason Isaacs walks the line between sensitive and enraged wonderfully, and Reed Birney (of whose I have not seen very many movies) delivers an incredibly subtle performance that I was very impressed by.
What’s crazy to me about Mass is that it is Kranz’s debut film. And what’s even crazier is that Kranz is both the sole writer and the director of the film. When I think about this, it feels slightly hard to wrap my head around. It is impressive, but more so it is incredibly brave. Kranz voices the immense pain and hurt caused by gun violence so well, and most importantly he manages to keep the tragedy that lies at the heart of this film human.
Often when I watch films about devastating incidents, I worry that they will not handle the subject matter with care and that they might turn the incident into a spectacle. There are movies that use the loss of human life for shock value instead of portraying people as people and making a statement. With Mass, that worry is dissolved completely because of the way it centers the people affected by the shooting rather than the shooting itself.
With many awards ceremonies coming up, it is quite a shame to see that Mass and the cast of the film are not being recognized or nominated for all of their amazing artistry. This movie is very important, and it is very good. Despite spending a lot of the film trying not to cry, I deeply enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone whose interest might be even slightly piqued by this review.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Hey Annika, great review on the film Mass. Your review is making me seriously consider watching this film. School shootings are a very hot topic right now and something that has everyone’s interest. I can only imagine the difficulty of matching the raw emotion a role in this film would require. All in all, a great review and I look forward to watching it as well.
The only media representation I’ve seen of this topic has been news immediately following various shootings or the song “Pumped Up Kicks”. When I got to the end of the second paragraph I was trepidly interested in a fictional movie about such a viscerally horrifying reality. Thankfully it sounds like the screenwriter and actors for this movie gave ample amounts of respect to victims and the subject matter of the film. I will definitely be checking this one out.
This movie sounds so interesting!! You’re an incredibly talented writer, and your blog provided a really thorough analysis of the film. I really liked how you touched on the sensitive subject matter and how the setting played a role in that. In my script analysis class, we are reading a play that deals with abuse and the set design for it is two chairs. I really felt that by keeping the setting so simple it really brought out the importance of the story itself without distractions, and placed more responsibilities on the actors. I think it’s really interesting how setting was similarly used in this film! I also think it’s interesting how you mentioned that the film focuses on the people affected by the tragic event rather than the event itself. You did a really nice job in formatting the critique and adding in images that fit perfectly. Great job!