Desperation Road

The film explores the many different sides of forgiveness, which makes me wonder if this is why Mel Gibson attached himself to the film. Russell lives with the guilt of his crime and is unable to forgive himself. His father, Mitchell, now has to deal with his broken son and the repercussions of his crime, as Larry is always in the shadows seeking revenge.

This is also a noir. Russell’s best friend from high school is Boyd (Woody McClain), who is now a deputy himself, rising through the ranks. He is investigating the murder of the slain officer. As much as Russell and Boyd are still friends after all that happened, Russell refuses to give any indication that he knows the whereabouts of Maben…who is living in Mitchell’s home.

There are two reasons to see Desperation Road. First, the acting performances are top-notch from top to bottom. Willa Fitzgerald and Garrett Hedlund give performances of a lifetime, and Mel Gibson brings the gravitas to Mitchell, laying a strong foundation for the entire tale.

“…masterfully crafts this challenging noir and makes great use of the performances she was given…”

The only downside is the pacing moves very slowly, but let’s remember this is a noir for crying out loud. The film is bookended by its thriller action scenes, and the middle is a game of cat-and-mouse between Maben and the law and Russell and Larry.

That said, in her directorial debut, Nadine Crocker masterfully crafts this challenging noir and makes great use of the performances she was given by her cast. It’s not easy doing noir without overplaying its tropes. Crocker maintains the dark tone of noir from the brutal opening moments with Maben and the deputy to the uncontrolled rage of Larry. The tale is dark and tense with brief accents of hope…and hopelessness.

Desperation Road is plain and simple good storytelling, and a solid film from start to finish. Let’s also remember. We are all broken souls in need of forgiveness as well as offering forgiveness in return.