Stillwater

Starring: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, Lilou Siauvaud, Deanna Dunagan, Anne Le Ny, Moussa Maaskri, William Nadylam
Directed by: Tom McCarthy
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Mystery
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A father (Matt Damon) visits his daughter (Abigail Breslin) in France, where she is imprisoned for murdering her roommate- a crime in which she claims to be innocent.

Review:

Tim: Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't like Stillwater much. It's a film written and directed by Tom McCarthy (whose Spotlight was excellent, stars Matt Damon in a nice dramatic role, and is inspired by Amanda Knox, so it's a bit of a fictionalized "ripped from the headlines" affair. Much was in place to make this at least a good movie. McCarthy doesn't quite pull it off.

That is frustrating because the film features a great starring performance by Matt Damon. Damon is a really effective actor and I believe he doesn't get the acclaim he deserves. He really steps into this role, which feels very different to himself. He shows range by highlighting this hard-nosed, blue collared character who has heart and is kind, despite the many mistakes he's had in his life. I was surprised by how much the film focused on him- the daughter is definitely a smaller supporting character. This gives Damon a ton of screen time. The film is all about Damon's character and he delivers a strong performance. Now, to be fair, he ends up with too much screen time- there's no way for this film to clock in at 2 hours, 19 minutes. McCarthy allows his film to become bloated and as it goes on and on, even Damon's great work can't save the film. That is really a good summary of this film- Damon is great, but the movie around him lets him down.

The script is honestly a bit bizarre. Amanda Knox condemned this movie for fictionalizing her life. I think she has a point, although Hollywood is always going to fictionalize stories like this. This film follows her life only in the broadest strokes- this isn't her story, it's one that was very loosely inspired by her story. Oddly, the movie veers in unexpected directions- mainly, focusing so much on her dad and far less on the young woman accused of a murder of which she proclaims she's innocent. That seems like the most exciting component of this- instead, we watch scene after scene of the character's dad starting a new family in France. The whole approach of the film seems odd. Why borrow Knox's story, only to not follow it in the least and spin up a parallel, less exciting story? What was McCarthy thinking with the script? It ends up being an overly long movie that feels like it focused too much on the wrong character. So odd.

Now, in addition to Damon, Camille Cottin gives a surprisingly great performance. I was not expecting to feel such an emotional connection to her character, especially given the first scene in which she appears. Cottin brings so much humanity and layered complexity to the character. You feel fascinated by her. Cottin works extremely well opposite Damon and their interactions were a big strength of this film. Liloi Siauvaud was wonderful as Cottin's character's daughter. Watching the three of them form a new family was an unexpected twist in this film. There were things I loved about this- it's a beautiful story of redemption, how this flawed man redeems himself in many ways, becoming the father he always should have been. McCarthy becomes a bit too focused on that, but it's definitely the heart of the story. It works, just not in conjunction with the "we've ripped off Amanda Knox's life story" aspect. Still, there are emotionally beautiful moments throughout the film between Damon, Cottin, and Siauvaud. That's definitely the film's strongest aspect.

I don't think you can honestly look at Stillwater as anything less than a disappointment. I know critics mostly liked it, but I think they're off. The performances are good, but the movie itself shifts oddly in tone throughout the film. At times, it felt like it was going to be more action-focused- a dad on the hunt for the true killer. Most of the film is heartfelt family drama. The end of the film feels a bit melodramatic, like a weak crime thriller. It all adds up to an odd film that doesn't have a consistent vision. When you take it all into consideration, it felt like the final version of this film was one of the worst we could have gotten. There were multiple paths to at least a good film here and McCarthy doesn't find it. I like McCarthy as a director and I watched him film parts of Spotlight- he seemed like a good dude. This film just doesn't deliver what it should have.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Spotlight, Hereafter, Joe Bell, We Bought a Zoo