Rockaway
A review by Brooks Rich
About a year ago a friend of mine saw this film at a festival, I can’t remember which one, I want to say it was in Tampa or around there, and said I should keep an eye out for it. So I instantly rented it when I saw it available on iTunes this weekend. Before watching I did some research. Writer director John J. Budion funded this film himself. He is a commercial director and handy with visual effects. This film is inspired by true events, the characters based on his brother and himself and the group of friends they grew up with. I did some research on this and listened to a few interviews with Budion and the cast. He has stated he pushed the drama to entertain the audiences. Fair enough.
I admire John Budion. This is a guy who wrote his own movie, found a way to fund it, got a better than usual cast for an independently funded indie, and went and made a movie. Good for him. Always support the indie guys who are out there putting their blood sweat and tears into making movies. I applaud Mr. Budion for going out and making it. So it’s with a heavy heart I tell you I’m not a huge fan of this movie. I don’t think it works at the end of the day.
The main arch revolves around the two brothers, Anthony and John, who have a plan to kill their abusive father. This part of the story takes place in 1994 and is told in flashback by a grown up John. He recounts the summer they put their plan into effect and also met a group of friends who they formed a lifelong bond with. That is my main problem with this film. I don’t buy that these two brothers formed that strong of a bond with these other kids. I admit that could be the length of the film, only about one hour and twenty-three minutes. That’s a startling short film and I could have used twenty to twenty-five more minutes to show the bond growing between these characters. The ending of the 1994 story lends a little to that bond but it still could have used more.
I found some of the shot choices odd. It’s a decently made film for the most part, Budion has a good eye for his first film, but there’s a cluster of close ups at a very dramatic scene at the end that’s bad. I don’t know if that was Budion or his cinematographer but there is an art to the closeup and this film did not use them well.
The performances are good. Most of these actors are not ones most people will know but they all give solid performances. There’s two standouts. One is the dad, thats all he’s referred to as, played by Wass Stevens, a character actor who is one of those “oh yeah that guy actors.” I recognized him from John Wick 2, Keanu Reeves kicks his ass in the beginning. Stevens takes a very overused character type, the evil abusive father, and does some interesting things with him in the short amount of time he has.
The other standout is the older brother Anthony, played by Keidrich Sellati, Henry on The Americans to the people who watched that show. He’s the best out of the younger cast, maybe out of the whole movie, it’s between him and Stevens, and Anthony’s arch is the most satisfying in the film. He is the glue that holds the film together and without the strong performance by Sellati here I don’t think this film works. I was bummed this film wasn’t longer because this was an interesting character. I want more of him. The scenes between him and Stevens are intense.
Finally I give Budion major props for writing real kid characters. Children swear like adults. They don’t talk like they do in family films. They go through the same crap the rest of us do. Budion isn’t afraid to have his younger cast members drop f-bombs here.
Someone reading this will like this film. Some will find it too amateurish and another coming of age story. If you do want to check it out, its about a five dollar rental on Amazon prime and iTunes. DVD and Blu-rays also on sell but I don’t know if someone should blind buy this. I do think there’s a lot of good ideas here and I will keep my eye on Budion and his future work.
2.5/5
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