Review of A Single Shot (2013) by Panta O — 23 Jan 2014

This crime drama-thriller directed by David M. Rosenthal and written by Matthew F. Jones, based on his own novel of same name is good late night time buster- when you have nothing better to do. Watching it, almost every scene will be familiar, even the rural, neo-noir feel. The film stars Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Ted Levine, Kelly Reilly and Jason Isaacs. I agree with some of the critics that Sam Rockwell is one of Hollywood's most underrated actors and he shows why that's the case again in A Single Shot. He alone manages to slowly pull the viewer under its veil of mystery, not the screenplay or the story! When he is alone on the screen everything works perfectly, but when the plot kicks in, and people actually start talking to each other, the film loses most of its momentum.

The plot is a story of recently separated John Moon, who copes with poverty in Upstate New York by poaching. While stalking a deer, he accidentally shoots a young girl. He then finds a box containing $100,000 in the abandoned van where she was hiding. During the following days, John receives anonymous threats from people who know that he has the money. Trying to settle the scores and saving his family doesn't go well...

One of the impressive parts of this movie is the music. Written by Icelandic-born composer Atli Örvarsson , the score was recorded with the London Metropolitan Orchestra. One of the special things about the soundtrack is that the shorter cues have been organized into movements, thus creating a program that sounds very much like a concert piece.

If you are in a mood for an impressively dark film with absorbing situations when Sam Rockwell is present on the screen, and you don't mind serious pieces of suitable music in the background while the slowly told story unfolds - grab the snacks, invite friends, and try to connect the threads together to understand everything happening.