SUNDANCE 2021 | "Mass" Shows Promise For Debut Writer And Director Fran Kranz
11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5 Stars
The mass shooting crisis in America has left the country stunned and divided about how to deal with the problem. While a solution has proven difficult to come to an actionable agreement on as a country, even harder is dealing with the aftermath of these unspeakable events. Writer and director Fran Kranz utilizes his debut feature film, Mass, to tackle the subject matter. The result is a very emotional and very human discussion that seeks answers but finds something far more powerful.
Mass is a fictional meeting based on tragic real events we’ve become far too familiar with in our country. In this story, the parents of a school mass shooting victim agree to meet with the parents of the mass shooter in an effort to grieve for their losses. Mostly taking place with one room and these two couples, the film observes the deep, delicate, and heartbreaking perspectives of these two sets of parents struggling to understand the circumstances that transpired.
The discussion that ensues is excurciating. Awkward small talk evolves into uncomfortable conversation evolves into distressing analyizations of what happened, why, and whose fault it should be. The room these four parents occupy acts as a pressure cooker for emotional tension and stressful conversation, very similar to what we saw last year in the short film Josiah at Raindance. This small cast/single location model is prime for sensitive topics, and it was not only wise of Kranz to approach the subject in this manner for tension buildup, but also prudent that he seems to use these four walls to literally and metaphorically keep the conversation in the room. It would’ve been very easy to wade into the debate of gun control, shocking audiences with depictions of school shootings to hammer home a point, but Kranz leaves politics off the table; the victim’s father, Jay, addresses the subject momentarily just to have his wife, Gail, shut it down. Gun control isn’t the topic here, and the mindfulness of the script allows the film to be about something more compelling.
Supporting this screenplay is a fantastic set of performances from the four actors at the core of the story: Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs as the victim’s parents Gail and Jay, and Reed Birney and Ann Dowd as the shooter’s parents Richard and Linda. How they all interact with each other brings the mounting tension to life and every story told emits empathy for both sides of this tradgic situation.
While the focus of the feature is the pivotal conversation between the two parents, the discussion is bookended with intro and outro sequences that features a diverse set of supporting characters: Judy (Breeda Wool), an over-thinking and somewhat ditzy church attendant, Anthony (Kagen Albright), a dutiful youth church member, and Kendra (Michelle Carter), the constantly preoccupied and hyper particular facilitator of the meeting. This supporting cast demonstrates the array of types of characters Kranz can write into his stories, and though their purposes are minimal here in Mass, it could be interesting to see Kranz take on other projects with these kinds awkward kinds of personalities and interactions.
But for now, Mass proves to be a solid directorial debut for Kranz. The film doesn’t produce the best answers in this emotionally challenging scenario, but it’s not suppose to. It’s a film about grief, finding common ground, and showing that love and compassion can overcome even the most devastating life events, and it’s a film I strongly hope will resonate with the masses.
Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?