Writer-director Adam Jack’s third film, Jackknife, stars Tivon Charles as Ty. The teenager is still reeling from his father’s death while his mother, Liz (Erica Sherwood), is putting more responsibility on him. One day, Ty is meant to go meet his best friend, Benny (Evan Lewis Dolinski), to go fishing, but Liz has to take over an open house as the other real estate agent is sick. So she tasks him with watching his little sister Jazz (Payton Mills). Of course, the boy doesn’t really want to, so he takes her along fishing. After meeting up, Benny wants to make a detour to buy weed. This is how Ty and Jazz meet Guy (Thain Wesley), a druggie always on edge. The deal goes pear-shaped, and Guy demands that the boys leave while the girl stays behind.
Obviously, this doesn’t sit well with Ty, who busts out his jackknife and fatally wounds the creepy, unscrupulous man. Benny flees in terror, and the siblings fear what’ll happen to two African-American kids if they go to the cops, so they venture into the woods toward Canada. When Liz realizes her children are not home, she calls in a missing persons report. Unfortunately, Sheriff Clarke (Red Carlsen) is a racist and doesn’t take it seriously, which leaves Detective Pearson (Michael James) as the only one looking into the matter.
Jackknife is one half-dramatic look at being a minority in the U.S. of A. and one half-survival thriller. The meshing of these two elements is rather engrossing. Liz’s desperate search for her kids and her irritation over law enforcement’s inaction is understandable. Ty and Jazz might make a few dumb decisions, as kids do, but their rationale is always clear. Pearson wanting to do the right thing, a dead druggie be damned, adds a rounded touch to police work.
“…the siblings fear what’ll happen to two African-American kids if they go to the cops, so they venture into the woods toward Canada.”
However, a few plotholes linger. Sheriff Clarke is responsible for the death of Ty’s father, so why is he given any leverage over the kids’ disappearance? It makes very little sense, and Pearson’s “big city connections“ is a subplot (that’s being generous) that goes nowhere fast. Plus, if Guy and his brother Billy (Douglas Vermeeren) are so dangerous, why weren’t they already behind bars? They aren’t exactly hiding.
As a look at racism in the country, Jackknife succeeds in a big way. The ending hammers the point home dramatically and effectively. But without spoiling too much, every decision Ty and Jazz make stems from how they think others, especially the white people in charge, will perceive them. While not exactly subtle, it is poignant and engaging with a gut punch of a finale that may make some cry.
Jackknife effectively gets its message across, though a few plotholes exist within the narrative. The cast is strong, with Charles and Mills playing off each other perfectly. The story hums along at a decent pace, and the conclusion is emotional and gripping in all the right ways.
For more information about Jackknife, visit the Breaking Glass Pictures site.
"…effectively gets its message across..."
