Mass Review
Big things come in small packages, and despite the low wattage and single-room setup of this piece, Mass is a tremendously written, fantastically acted and heartbreaking movie that muses on grief, forgiveness and moving on.
Judy (Breeda Wool) is a Church coordinator, working to prepare a room for an important meeting Kendra (Michelle N. Carter) is facilitating. The first to arrive for the meeting of four people are Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton), the parents of a child who was shot and killed in a mass school shooting. The last two to arrive, Richard (Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd), are the parents of the student who was the shooter. Thus begins a 1 hr 51 minute film set in this back room of a Chruch, as the pairs of parents trying to meet, talk, forgive and move forward.
Fran Kranz wrote and directed Mass, and she has such an incredibly strong grip on the material that this becomes little surprise. This isn’t a showy film, but it is a beautiful one. That’s not just in terms of the cinematography (which, admittedly, does make a drab and dull room utterly enthralling), but mainly in terms of the scriptwriting and the performances on display.
From a story perspective, Mass is a masterclass in natural exposition provision. The tale comes out over the course of the movie, in service to the conversation being had on screen, not to the audience trying to understand it. The moments of anger, hatred, denial, forgiveness, tenderness and love all ring so authentically that the movie feels truly real.
At the same time, the performances of the scripted work must be lauded also. All four actors are absolutely tremendous in their respective roles - so much so that it is impossible to single out any one standout. Isaacs, as the most recognisable name of the crew, does tremendous work both early and late in the piece. Plimpton is absolutely gut-wrenching in her grief, and completely heartwarming in her eventual aboutface. Dowd, so composed throughout in service of fostering an atmosphere of forgiveness, eventually breaks down at the end in a scene so thoroughly touching there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Birney, perhaps most interestingly, has the most restrained role - the most difficult role undoubtedly of the four. But his nuanced portrayal stops it from becoming callous or villainous, and instead strips the layers back off the shade harsh dialogue to reveal the hurting father underneath.
Mass isn’t the sort of movie that makes huge waves. But if you seek this one out and give it your time, you will not be disappointed.
