Sweet Virginia (2017) Reviews

• When something looks good, but not really

  NoPantsBatman2017-12-09

  Sweet Virginia, where dreams come to die. The movie is dictated by Lila (Imogen Poots) hiring Elwood (Christopher Abbott) to murder her husband, which he ended up killing two more people. I don't really know what was the exact goal of the director, Jamie M. Dagg, with this movie. It's a mix of well placed scenes with some seemingly random scenes. Some scenes helped me understand what motivated the characters, giving a good background and their point of view on the reality they were facing and/or faced. But some scenes throughout the movie, especially scenes involving Sam (Jon Bernthal), just looked like that they were there to fill time until the end, not giving any real purpose or content to the story itself. It made me feel confused, in a somewhat small movie of 93 minutes. I also got the impression that the real goal of the movie was to show how screwed up people are, with all the lies, deceit and lack of truth in their actions. I was able to feel the tension in almost every part of the movie, which was a good thing. I enjoyed watching Jon Bernthal play a character outside his normal roles. Here he is someone non-violent, that shows patience and compassion. Was surprising to say the least, but a good surprise. It was good to see a reality that I personally never experienced. A reality filled with secrets, lies, opportunism and, at some degree, fake. What threw me down to not give a better rating was the way the story was told, I felt kind of empty while watching it, becoming lost in my thoughts "why is this happening?", "what's the point of this?", "did they forget about her?". They could have delivered it a bit better, with more consistency. I really wanted to like this movie, had potential, but, unfortunately, I have to give it 6 out of 10.

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• Slow but kept my interest until the end

  alyssafflovex2018-10-08

  I was enjoying this movie until the abrupt, unclimactic, uncreative end. So maddening! My fiance and i sat here for like 5 minutes afterwards coming up with different endings that would have been better...did the writer just give up? Was he bored too? Ugh.

• Very good Americana neo-noir

  Red-Barracuda2017-06-27

  In a small-town Alaska, a triple murder is committed one night. The professional hit-man responsible has been hired by a local woman to wipe out her husband but two other men are killed in the process. The killer sets up stall in a motel run by a former rodeo star. The title Sweet Virginia refers to an earlier draft of the film set in the American south involving a cowboy killer and all the rest of it. Moving the setting further north to Alaska gives the film a different edge, although it does render the title less meaningful. Its director is Jamie M. Dagg recently made the Laos set chase film River (2015) which was good, if a little minimalistic, but with Sweet Virginia he definitely shows progress as a film-maker. This one is a little more expansive in approach with more detailed characters and plot. You could probably fairly say that there is nothing especially new here but it is held together with some good performances such as Jon Bernthal as the motel owner who is not your typical hero in that he takes a beating when you don't expect him to and generally is quite meek in direct contrast to how he looks, even better was Christopher Abbott in the role of the killer who embarks in a bromance of sorts with Bernthal's character, Abbott's portrayal carried an authentic threat and you really believed his character was capable of violence. Imogen Poots doesn't get as much screen-time as the two male leads but her character is perhaps the key to the whole story in that it is her decisions that set the wheels in motion and continue to propel the narrative into the abyss. It's a pretty satisfying film overall and will be of interest to those with a taste for American neo-noirs.

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• In a World Where Bad Things Happen...

  MongoLloyd2017-11-17

  ... to regular people and sad music makes us cry... Sorry, but no, it's just not enough. Did I care about the characters? No, why would I? There's little to no character development and they're just not terribly interesting or compelling in any way. Nebulous relationships, an insurance fraud scheme, a few assorted scumbags, a latent hero who somehow dispels his inner demons and emotional funk with a final heroic act in the end does not a great movie make. Dark skies, dark interiors, dingy settings, dismal situations I understand are compelling to some, but it's just not enough. What happened to the craft of screen writing?

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• Sour North.

  js-661302017-12-01

  Problem with small towns is everybody leaves 'em. Thus small town stories tend to be based on romanticized memories (be it good or bad) from the point of city slickers. And since most folks reside in giant metropolises, it becomes difficult to pronounce judgement on this evaporating way of life. Sweet Virginia is one such film beast. It is both good and bad. A good film, about bad people, but chiefly it is about America. Set in murky Alaska, but filled with soft, southern accented characters, it takes place in a tiny, forgotten place, where people struggle for money, hide their histories, wear baseball caps, drive pickups, move at a snail's pace, and settle their matters in a violent fashion. At the centre of a nifty noire tangle is an uncomfortable buddy-buddy relationship between an aw-shucks former rodeo star trying unsuccessfully to live a low-key life as a motel owner, and a troubled, snaky hit man. Jon Bernthal is terrific as the reluctant good guy, who innocently befriends the dark stranger in town - a perfectly tense and edgy Christopher Abbott. We know this won't end well, but that is not the point. This is less about the resolution and more about the journey. "Sweet Virginia" dares to peek under the covers of a sleepy place rampant with familiarity but teeming with excruciating loneliness. One that usually keeps it's secrets well buried. Usually.

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