"MASS" // SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2021
The tragedy at the heart of MASS is one that we are all too familiar with, though hopefully most of us are not so acquainted with it that it's affected us personally. Mass school shootings have become common place, especially in America, devastating community after community. In Fran Kranz's directorial debut, he centers the drama around two couples who were personally affected by a school shooting and have both suffered a loss. Jay (Jason Issacs) and his wife Gail (Martha Plimpton) are on one side of the divide (Jay is now a gun control activist) while Linda (Ann Dowd) and her husband Richard (Reed Birney) are on the other, here to help them try and find comfort in whatever way they can. They've each come with the white flag raised, to talk and heal.
As one would expect, that's how it begins but emotions will eventually overtake them and the conversation will ebb and flow from subtle to enraged. Gail is quiet and still shattered from her loss. Jay has been fighting the activism fight and is quietly trying to hold everything together. Linda and Richard seem to have dealt with their tragedy in different ways. Gail is almost a soothing presence but also clearly broken while Richard has chosen to deal with his grief by trying to push it all down as much as he can. He's stoic and sometimes shut down, but never quite cold. Through their conversation, Kranz guides them like one would a powerful play: by letting the performances build and shine without any distractions to curve them.
There are a number of surprises within MASS, surprises that I won't spoil here, but as they dig deeper into them, the cast simply get stronger and stronger. Jason Issacs is wonderful, explosive and tender. His activist husband is both nurturing and compassionate with a powerful performance laying the groundwork around the group. Martha Plimpton may have turned in her finest performance yet here, grounded in a shattered nightmare and cracks our hearts slowly while attempting to heal them at the same time. Ann Dowd's performance is a surprise, not that I wouldn't have expected her to be stellar. She's one of the most reliably wonderful actresses working today, turning in one phenomenal performance after another. Her character is a surprise because of how soothing she continues to be, somehow sacrificing her own pain to help those around her. It's the most subtle performance of the four and, along with Plimpton, is the anchor to this ship. Reed Birney has maybe the most difficult character to side with on the surface, simply because his character's need to stay closed. But Birney makes it all the more affecting as you understand his motivations and see clearly the shattered man inside.
Kranz ignites his career behind the camera with a powerful force. It's wonderfully directed, never backing away from the lightening rod of a topic while always staying respectful. It's never exploitive and his intentions to help heal are apparent from the start. It's not an easy watch, but it's an important one. There will be, and should be, a lot of conversations after watching MASS. Hopefully those conversations will lead to change, because our children desperately need our attention.
GRADE: A
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Fran Kranz STARRING Jason Issacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Reed Birney SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: MASS