FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
LEVITY
Released from prison after 23 years, Manuel Jordan returns to the scene of
his crime, where as a teenager he shot and killed a convenient store cashier
in a botched robbery. Now determined to live a crime-free life, Jordan earns
his room and board by overseeing the parking lot of an inner-city mission
run by a street-smart preacher (Freeman). Jordan becomes savior to a
self-destructive suburbanite Sofia (Dunst), who frequents a nightclub across
the street. And in another attempt at redemption, he befriends Adele
(Hunter), his victim's sister. As her teenage son Abner, named after his slain
uncle, becomes involved in a gang war, Adele implausibly turns to Manuel
for help, oblivious to his background or motivation. Although Hunter’s
much-needed presence as a determined single mom raises the stakes,
Thornton’s one-note role is so understated that the charisma shown in other
films (especially in A Simple Plan) is absent here. Further, some of the
dialogue, especially Sofia’s, doesn’t ring true-“Is that your icy stare you
learned in prison or something.” And the film takes a corny and
unconvincing turn when she joins the mission’s teenage male clique.
Besides Hunter, Freeman has charm to spare. But in this earnest but
predictable and heavy-handed parable, the only trace of irony is in the title.
KT
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