Mass

Mass

Nice to see Ann Dowd playing a more positive and relatable character. Great job. The only reason to watch this. Breeda Wool and Reed Birney are annoying like hell. Was expecting better direction and camera work considering the story takes place in a room.

Fran Kranz, previously known mainly as an actor, tells an original story in his directorial debut Mass, which could seem like an adapted play to many. Six years after a devastating tragedy, the parents of two victims gather in the room of a church to come to terms with the events of that time together. This results in a real emotional chaos between four protagonists, peppered with grief, pain, anger and pure fear. I have often heard that Mass is a quiet film. Yes, it's not a sci-fi blockbuster with countless scenarios, dispenses entirely with any effects and has only four central characters. In that respect, it is definitely a quiet film. But if you define calm by emotional connection, then Mass is probably the spectacle of the year. For what is rehashed and thematised here rips your heart out. Rarely have I shed so many tears at a film. Rarely have all the protagonists grown so close to my heart despite their different behaviours. Never have dialogues and monologues been so close to my heart. This is largely due to Franz's borderline brilliant screenplay. But in this film it is the actors who make the difference. I have rarely come across such a top-class performance from an ensemble. All four get moments to shine and do so with incredible bravura. I'll start with Jason Isaacs, probably the most recognisable name among the four. His character Jay still can't believe the incident and death of his son. He tries to understand the psyche of the perpetrator, who turns out to be the son of the other parents. Although he tries not to ask too much of them at first, he becomes more and more impatient and angry as time goes on. This leads to a scene where Jay snaps and takes the conversation in a completely different direction. From this point on he is an emotional wreck. You buy both emotional states from Isaacs through his facial expressions alone. Let's move on to the two mothers, Gale (Martha Plimpton) and Linda (Ann Dowd). The former is unexpectedly restrained until the last act, before letting her baggage run free at the end. And in a way that is simply unfathomable. Plimpton's chemistry with Isaacs is insanely authentic and if you said they'd been through this thing in real life, I'd believe it. Ann Dowd is much more eloquent in her role and always tries to be the emotional constant through subtlety. Until a final monologue that must win Dowd the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Even though she and Plimpton give each other nothing here. If only there were Reed Birney as the no-nonsense and proud businessman Richard. He talks a lot but never really gets too specific. He is emotionally stiff. Although he visibly wants to open up more, he can't. This is frustrating to watch, but also couldn't be better portrayed. Birney also deserves all the praise in the world for his less emotional but efficient performance. So yes, Mass is an acting masterpiece. One that I have rarely seen in this form and oe that will stay with me for a very long time. It tells a tragic story in such a realistic manner that you almost believe you are really standing in the room listening to the four people on the spot. Dialogue has rarely been so tangible and distant for someone who, thank God, has never had to go through something like this. But at the same time, it's a film I probably won't be able to watch again because of the sheer harshness of its subject matter. Moreover, certain visual cuts are unnecessary. But no one cares about that.

Excellent pacing for a difficult subject. While all the acting is very good, I saw it as a story of two mothers trying to cope. I expect Ann Dowd and possibly Martha Plympton to get nominated for acting awards.

The dialogue is so wooden in places it feels like words on the page was wrangled over and over and over again to within an inch of their lives to try and portray a perfect sense of perfect people in imperfect situations, but comes across as implausible and unbelievable. Overall this is meant to be a serious film about human tragedies on all scales, but does none of it very well. I have to make it clear that I am not opposed to films that move at a snails pace as long as the characters are interesting and premise is engaging. But all of it fell flat for me. And it doesn't even have a cinematic flair about it, it just looks like a basic TV movie. This movie is one of the silliest movies I have ever seen! It haven't got anything special and it's overrated! I can't understand critics and public who love this film, because it's awful. See the movie and judge it by yourself, but I think it's not worth it. It's totally overrated!

"Mass", in the title of Fran Kranz's excellent debut film, stands for mass murder but it could also mean the Catholic Mass, which is a sacrament, since one of the subjects of this film is forgiveness. Two sets of parents meet in the basement of a church; they are the parents of boys involved in a school shooting, those of the killer and those of one of the victims. What is the real purpose of their meeting? Closure, forgiveness, to vent anger, to divest themselves of pain, to try to understand? Kranz's film covers all of these and is blessed with an extraordinary cast of four. Reed Birney and Ann Dowd are the parents of the killer and Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton are the parents of the victim. It is a theatrical concept and yes, it does feel like a filmed play with well rehearsed arguments but the cast raise onto a different level; painfully we feel like eavesdroppers on their grief and that is Kranz's achievement. Apart from a few shots at the beginning and end we never leave the one room and the cast mostly sit around a table and they talk. This is hardly a film to pack them in on a Saturday night but it is still one fo the best films of the year and certainly it has the best ensemble cast.

Acting class at its very finest. A very intimidate portrayed of guilt, blame and regret. A film that is objective to show both sides of a coin. And a film that contains some of the best performances of the whole year. Where to start? Ann Dowd is the most praised and recognized of them all and she deserves all that and more for her brilliant turn. But on the same hand we shall not forget Jason Isaacs who really goes through many different phases with his performance and all of them are absolutely touching and relatable. He is terrific. And we should not forget Martha Plimpton who gave her role such an natural and realistic approach that it was impossible to see the "acting" behind it. It was simply real. Last but not least Reed Birney. He was the "weakest" but still fantastic. He perfectly created his character and gave it a nice thin line between sympathetic and unsympathetic. The screenplay is great. The direction fantastic. A film that lives by its characters, dialogue and actually the story between it. Set on one location very simplistic but therefor you come the three 4 characters incredibly close. A fantastic experience. One of the best of the year!

Mass is a type of film many people today, wouldn't call a film. Even my father didn't see this as a film but rather as a documentary. The dialogues and the performances are that good. I wouldn't call acting in this film masterful or magnificent. I would just call it real, not realistic. Real. It didn't feel real because if someone were to tell me these things had happened and that they aren't acting I could have believed them. This "film" is not for everybody and that's why I am keeping this review spoiler-free so you go in with the right expectations. This isn't a play like 12 Angry Men. What I mean by that is this doesn't feel like it was written by someone. I would even say this is a lesson on "basic" writing. You put people in a room and you just let them talk. This film does that extremely well thanks to its not phenomenal but "real" cast, meaning performances weren't exaggerated. There is a lot of silence, lots of subtle details and when you start to recognize these things you realize that this may as well be one of the best acted films ever. The writing on the other hand knows how to continue the dialogue which I think is extremely hard, getting from one topic to another especially in the beginning. The writer does that with such ease that the dialogues don't feel scripted. The film is heavy but it doesn't overdramatize which for some people can be a bad thing as it can feel like it is "too real". If you want to see a too real table dialogue between 4 "real people" then watch this film.

This would make a fantastic theatre play, as its exactly that. Sure, some people might say "why should I watch 4 people sit and talk in a room for 2 hours?" ...but this is so much more than this. I think I have found my surprise/underdog Oscar nominee here. I would even recommend to NOT watch the trailer and experience that journey like it was meat to be watched. You slowly get clues fed and construct what really happened. The movie completely relies on the reverse principle of film making and goes for the "Tell dont show" in this case, which does work though! Especially Martha Plimpton and Ann Dowd are NAILING it in this movie. This could very well been have a Masterclass session by those two on how to act in a drama. There is no visual stimulation, but this movie still manages to take you onto an emotional journey and when you think its over....it isnt. In all honesty, this is not a movie that needs to be seen in the cinema, this is actually perfect for a streaming service. Just give this movie a chance and fully focus on how brilliant those 4 actors are!