John Hillcoat
Lawless

The sun, the blood, and the flies of "The Proposition" have left their mark on the career of Australian director John Hillcoat. Since 2005, with the release of that harsh and melancholic western, the spotlight has been on the Queensland filmmaker, positively dazzled by the aforementioned work. Then came "The Road," an adaptation of the splendid novel with the same name by Cormac McCarthy: a film that received mixed reviews, but one that I continue to consider a small masterpiece, still too underrated. Then towards the end of 2012, "Lawless" arrived, Hillcoat's third feature film (not counting the two hard-to-find Australian productions). A film eagerly anticipated by the director's followers, characterized by a notable cast, including Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, and Jessica Chastain among others.

Once again Hillcoat focuses on a story set in the past: both previous works were distant from contemporary times (mid-1800s for "The Proposition" and an unspecified future for "The Road"). This time we're in 1931, Franklin County, Virginia. Prohibition begins to create problems for the three Bondurant brothers Jack, Forrest, and Howard (played by Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke), coinciding with the arrival of the new deputy sheriff of the county, Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce). His task is to stop the Bondurant brothers' "moonshine" empire.

In this blend of western, gangster, and slasher (some scenes are notably bloody), "Lawless" presents itself as a product excellently crafted from a technical standpoint, with a soundtrack (once again by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) that is fitting and contains some notable highlights. The film flows smoothly, entertaining as it should, thanks to the formal perfection of framing, locations, and the reconstruction of places. But the purely formal and technical setup isn't enough to make a film great: this is where a few substantive issues arise.

The plot underpinning Hillcoat's film structure contains nothing original, which is why deeper character development could have compensated for the lack of originality in the story. The reality is that there's also a lack of adequate psychological depth in the characters, making the film excessively vague, almost an exercise in style (well-executed) but unable to convey emotions beyond the screen. Furthermore, some plot implications take away "screentime" from situations that could have been better utilized. Characters like those of Oldman and Chastain have less space than what their acting potential could have offered the film. Distinctions need to be made regarding the actors: while Guy Pearce and Jessica Chastain deliver good performances (with the latter, after "The Tree Of Life" and "The Help," proving to be one of the promising breakout actresses of the coming years), Hardy and LaBeouf seem embalmed within overly stereotyped characters. In particular, Hardy adds very little to the film, with his scant, mumbled lines, intended to render his figure daunting to excess.

The groundwork for a film on par with past quality was all there. Hillcoat possesses taste and even a good pinch of class. "Lawless," however, fails to genuinely convince, stuck in familiar territory and not very impactful emotionally.

In short, a whiskey like many others.