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THE SLAUGHTER RULE Rating:   Directors: Alex Smith, Andrew Smith Producers: Greg O'Connor, Michael Robinson Writers: Alex Smith, Andrew Smith Director of Photography: Eric Edwards Cast: Ryan Gosling, David Morse, Clea Duvall, Kelly Lynch, Eddie Spears Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Warren
Curry
11/10/02
Dense, atmospheric and ripe with metaphors about the frailty of masculinity, Alex and Andrew Smith's debut feature, The Slaughter Rule, suffers from a lumbering story that often travels to the correct places, but not in the most effective manner. The film is highlighted by solid performances from Ryan Gosling and David Morse (especially when the directors turn Gosling loose in the more highly-charged scenes), whose characters are decently developed, but the movie's pace is at times uneven, and occasionally slows to a crawl.
Set in Montana, the story concerns an older teenaged boy named Roy (Gosling), whose father has just died. Adding to his dismay, Roy learns that due to budget cuts, he's lost his place on the high school's football team. Roy has a passion for the sport, but apparently not the intensity to raise his game to the necessary level. Enter Gideon (Morse), an approaching middle-age newspaper vendor, who coaches a six-man football team. Rumors abound about Gideon's sexual orientation and, furthermore, that he harbors a special fondness for high school boys just like Roy.
Roy becomes the focal point of the six-man squad, and is soon joined by his Native American best friend, Tracey (Eddie Spears). Roy also begins a relationship with a slightly older bartender, Skyla (Clea Duvall) -- a romance that Roy is not emotionally equipped to handle. During the course of the football season, Roy's friendship with the somewhat mysterious Gideon endures a myriad of hardships that eventually teaches both men strong lessons about their own vulnerability.
The Smiths invest a lot of thought into their film, and the message comes through fairly clear. Roy and Gideon's relationship builds in an engaging manner, and Gosling and Morse share a sharp chemistry in a few scenes, but the end result is unsatisfying. The minor relationships aren't allowed to blossom as fully as they need to (especially in the cases of Roy and Skyla, Roy and his mother (Kelly Lynch), and Tracey and his parents), which makes almost everything outside of Roy and Gideon's interaction feel trivial. The Smiths are too content to just scratch the surface of these elements. Exploring them further would've made the story unquestionably more vibrant.
From what I understand, this film was shot before The Believer (a performance that will serve as Gosling's benchmark for quite some time), and Gosling exhibits some of the controlled fury that made his performance so unforgettable in that film. Morse turns in a gem of a performance -- the best I've ever seen him -- as the tragically misunderstood and confused Gideon. His relationship with a derelict friend, Studebaker (David Cale), is compelling but, like so many other elements of this movie, had the potential to be much more.
The only real action in the film is comprised of the six-man football games (supposedly a legitimate sport in some corners of the country), although they don't (and aren't meant to) jump off the screen. The directors chose to shoot the film in Cinemascope, and while it's not really integral to the style of the movie, it does take advantage of the wide landscapes. The doldrums and routine of small town Montana life are presented convincingly.
The Slaughter Rule isn't without its strong points, but most audiences will probably have difficulty embracing the slow moving narrative, which makes the film fairly inaccessible. The Smiths know how to set tone, create atmosphere and write the blueprints for intriguing characters, but they need to generate more momentum in the storytelling department. The film puts a number of good ideas in motion, but in the end squanders most of its opportunities. Regardless, I'm still expecting good things from this sibling filmmaking duo the next time around -- their potential is obvious.
(A Cowboy Pictures release. Opens in New York on January 8, 2003. Expands to more cities at later dates.)
(Screened at the 2002 AFI Film Festival.)
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