WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
It’s ALL about family. For nothing runs deeper than blood. Right? We press into our kin, or at least one hopes that IS the situation when it comes to those who raised us and, if applicable, the siblings we grew up with. The ideal relationships between all involved should last, BE unbreakable, be filled with understanding, patience, and of course, love. However, when idealism and integrity suddenly collide with the darker element that is criminality, CAN the strength of commitment to those we cherish remain? Or will it turn into a catalyst for separation? Newly discharged but now troubled solider Larry (Dylan McTee) has returned from the hell of Vietnam, arriving home to his mother Betsy (Marceline Hugot), siblings Robert (Victor Webster), Marybeth (Madeleine Coghlan), and William (Derek Magyar) plus his Uncle John (Chad Christopher), it’s supposed to be a happy occasion. But when Betsy suggests Larry become part of the family’s business, what unfolds becomes a test and a revealing of precisely what his overseas experiences have wrought.
Next, my Mind:
The mentally draining, overtly damaging horrors of wartime experiences collide with an attempted return to normalcy, the lingering specter of PTSD, and familial obligations buried in the heart of criminality thanks to this intensely dramatic 17-minute short film that arrives courtesy of writer/director/producer Derek Magyar, writer/co-producer Jon Bloch, writer/executive producer Chad Christopher, producer Joachim Gautier , co-producers Amanda Lenker Doyle and Olia Zimarova, plus executive producer Kristen Gross which will be showcasing its impactful and awareness-raising story as an official selection of the 20th Anniversary HollyShorts Film Festival running August 8th-18th at the renowned TCL Chinese Theater, Los Angeles. Yet another time this critic feels the need to point out that films involving the exploration of PTSD and its devastating effects on those suffering from it should NEVER be out of style or seen as “Oh, another film about…”, because there is NO escaping the reality our veterans of ANY war have faced or are facing, with the subsequent need for continued assistance for them an absolute MUST.
The narrative we’re given here that puts the struggle in the context of a young Vietnam vet coming back to the U.S. to what ends up involving a less than overall positive welcome from some of his own family and the business ventures they’re immersed within that bring out the worst in him, it is a candid and forceful delivery of the primary gist addressing the anguish and inner battles that these vets confront which provides the depth of necessary evocative poignancy and utterly heartbreaking potency to the events we’re witness to as the viewer. It elicits you BEING there with the lead character, feeling what he does, experiencing the harsh actuality of his condition, but ALSO the abject vulnerability that gets paired WITH the volatility, and how that is tearing him apart from the core of his persona. And mind you, this truly is NO exaggeration of the magnitude of emotional turmoil that’s laid out, for there are NO melodramatic instances present here. This is genuinely purposeful, credible, thought-provoking material, which again, it SHOULD be, for THIS is what our soldiers must contend with, the outcome too often painfully tragic.
Then, what becomes even more effective to illustrate the film’s intent is to place already stormy atmosphere into the scope of one family’s felonious means of provision for themselves that only serves to make the lead character’s attempted foray back into civilian life all the MORE tedious and challenging as it is, much less in view of the fact that members OF his own family don’t have the complete faith he’s even capable of just “jumping in”. How this all ends up delivered is the key element which puts everything into the core perspective we’re privy to, and contained within a sudden flurry of violence that culminates in a finale that just smites your soul and fills you with an overwhelming sense of empathy in spite of what surface events have transpired. Additional thematic journeys into the grander aftermath of war, the burdens of family expectations, being wholly misunderstood for our service, trying to determine a path forward, the weight of political leanings, and battling notions of worthlessness mixed with the consequent, building anger/resentment it can manifest all are smartly intertwined and on full display as the narrative progresses.
McTee deftly relays the qualities of both an “everyman” and fully hardened soldier with high energy, a distinctly contained fragility, then unabashedly explosive, war-fueled anguish and animosity when the wrong buttons get pushed through his performance as Larry, a recently returned veteran of Vietnam who’s already having to make the efforts to handle evident PTSD while reuniting with his family in the Florida Everglades. Upon a mostly amicable but then slowly tension-building time with them, it is suggested Larry join his elder brother in the family dealings, which are anything but legal. Amidst the hesitations, but at the behest of the family’s steadfast, authoritative matriarch, Larry embarks on an initial endeavor with his brother that will end up revealing and defining everything that’s burning within his essence, possible endangering himself and his family in the process, while also eliciting a heartbreaking wake-up call for him. It’s a beautifully acted, achingly, intentionally ephemeral performance McTee provides us, and believable to its very foundations.
The primary supporting roles come first from Webster, Larry’s eldest sibling and the existing patriarch of the clan who also stands firmly as the most negative and questioning voice when it comes to how he sees and treats Larry upon his homecoming. Doubting that Larry can function at all effectively as a business associate, Webster is forced to allow him to join up and, in doing so, finds himself and Larry in the last position either of them needed while also having to manage his younger sibling’s “on the edge” demeanor while not remotely understanding what it is REALLY like for Larry at all. Darren Darnborough plays Joshua, a local (plus quite arrogant and shifty) criminal with whom Webster has an exceedingly tenuous but apparently long-standing agreement with when it comes to the business they both aim to excel within. Having a meeting arranged to settle a financial snafu that has everyone on the brink, Larry’s presence during the interchange of negotiations morphs into an eruptive confrontation that could spell even more calamitous outcomes for them.
Additional key supporting roles include Hugo as Larry’s mother and the family’s real leader Betsy, who stands unconditionally firm for her youngest son even when his instability shows through, Coghlan as Larry’s sister Marybeth, with whom it would appear Larry has the most close-knit association with when she is a voice of reason and comfort to him, the film’s director Magyar as William, Larry’s middle brother who also takes a far more sibling-like playfulness in attitude and sincere supportiveness when it comes to Larry’s return to the fold, and Christopher as Larry’s uncle John, who is the other one of the crew that wishes to be of assistance in welcoming Larry back and maintaining familial harmony. So, in total, “River Of Grass” stands as a both a cautionary and consciousness-piercing tale that adeptly champions PTSD acknowledgement and necessity of aid to help fight it while also illustrating the unforgiving harshness and poor choices that lawless pursuits bring about. Loyalty to family is commendable to the fullest extent. But, if it only ends up becoming a harbinger for isolation, non-understanding, and violence–is it REALLY?
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
