I sometimes still think about Sweet Virginia (2017) which I watched one grey afternoon on Netflix several years ago. I think it’s a good neo-noir thriller, not a great one; it flirts close to the nihilistic edge of something like No Country For Old Men, but sort of flinches, which is both a good and bad thing. Sometimes I think about the movie on account of how I often I revisit the Brooke and Will Blair’s score, specifically the piece composed for the final sequence, which I find beautifully mournful. I also think the movie shows an actor like Jon Bernthal who I’ve come to really like (after absolutely hating because of his unlikeable character in Fury), pushing back against his screen persona as a hulking brute by playing someone tender and damaged. It might not be a hundred percent successful in that I still think of him as a physically tough character, even though in this story he is supposed to be a broken down former rodeo champ who runs a small town motel. It’s also fascinating to watch him play off Christopher Abbott who remains a great, compelling screen actor even though he hasn’t blown up into leading man success like his Girls co-star Adam Driver. Abbott gives an intriguing, wired shape to the psychotic hitman archetype, giving a tense counterbalance to Bernthal in the scenes they have together. Abbott stays in the motel while in town to kill a person on contract for Imogen Poots whose personal plans (of the Blood Simple template) for independence and vengeance escalate further than she can anticipate. Also in the mix is the great Rosemarie Dewitt as a recently widowed woman having an affair with Bernthal character. Directed by Jamie M Dagg, Sweet Virginia is available to stream on Netflix. While not a major classic, as an indie neo noir thriller I found it absorbing in its pacing and imagery as well as the very interesting central performances from Bernthal and Abbott. Recommended.
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