Day 13 @ MSPIFF: 'A Decent Man' Reviewed
Like 2014's powerful ski vacation meltdown drama Force Majeure, Micha Lewinsky's A Decent Man shines a light on the condition of the modern man as he attempts to be good to the women and children in his life. While the former film had its protagonist dealing with dread of being instinctually cowardly, Lewinsky has his guy trying to solve every issue – even incredibly serious ones – by either taking them head-on alone, seeking bogus conciliatory conversation, or just telling outrageous lies.
A Decent Man starts off strong with Thomas (Devid Striesow, who plays a near-perfect everyman) taking his wife and teenage daughter on a ski trip to the Swiss Alps. On the way, they pick up a co-worker's daughter, Sarah (Annia Walt). After the girls beg for the grownups to let them go to a party at a bar (drinking isn't a big deal for teens in Switzerland, apparently), Sarah goes missing. Thomas, mildly spazzing because this lost girl is in his protection, finds her in a telephone booth and learns she's been raped. But she begs him not to tell anyone. He listens...and things just go from bad to worse to murderously terrible.
While Lewinsky builds an engaging base around the seriousness of rape and the consequences of alleging it, what he makes his characters do – especially Thomas – just gets so nut that it's difficult to watch with a straight face. Nearly everything the seemingly rational, level-headed protagonist does is facepalm-worthy, and by the third act it's not even fun to cringe at anymore. While we understand that Lewinsky is trying to make a point about how "normal" people fail to act in difficult situations, by the time Thomas is killing people to keep his "normal" life on the rails the film has already well lost its bearings.
A Decent Man is playing at the St. Anthony Main Theatre at 9:40 p.m.
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Other Highlights From Tuesday, April 19
Gypsy: Rock & Roll Nomads (Aaron Goodyear, USA) Created by a WCCO-TV photojournalist, this rock 'n' roll documentary follows the history of the band Gypsy as they move from Minnesota to Los Angeles and experience all of the '60s music scene -- except for the part about getting famous. Director Aaron Goodyear explores how a band could live the dream and yet be largely forgotten. (7:00)
1944 (Elmo Nüganen, Estonia/Finland) The biggest film to ever hit the Estonian box office is a gritty dive into the country's complicated WWII history. The story follows two boys -- one recruited by Hitler's forces, the other by the Red Army -- as they both fight to stay alive amid battles on their home soil. (4:50)
Neon Bull (Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands) A beautifully-shot and deeply human exploration into smalltime Brazilian rodeo and the concept of bodies as things to be possessed and presented. The film follows a makeshift, nomadic family, and at the center of the story is Iremar (Juliano Cazarré), a bull handler who dreams of designing women's clothes. (9:45)
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For the festival schedule, and a complete listing of all the movies being shown, click here. Ticket information is available here.
Throughout the entirety of the 2016 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, WCCO.com will be spotlighting one notable movie each day, along with other notable screenings. To see WCCO.com's complete coverage on the MSPIFF, click here.
