“Mass” brings together four grieving mothers and fathers, but two of them are parents of a mass-shooting victim, and the other two are the parents of the shooter. Actor-turned-filmmaker Fran Kranz’s choice of subject matter for his feature debut is certainly timely and provocative, but the emotions are too big and too messily human to fit into the tight box he has constructed to contain them.
World-premiering at Sundance, it’s a film that gives four talented actors lots of meaty material to work through, but Kranz writes himself into a corner where the only way out is via contrivance.
In the meeting room of a church’s basement, Jay (Jason Issacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) have come for a face-to-face sit-down with Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard. Years earlier, Gail and Jay’s son was one of several victims of a school shooting perpetrated by Linda and Richard’s son.
World-premiering at Sundance, it’s a film that gives four talented actors lots of meaty material to work through, but Kranz writes himself into a corner where the only way out is via contrivance.
In the meeting room of a church’s basement, Jay (Jason Issacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) have come for a face-to-face sit-down with Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard. Years earlier, Gail and Jay’s son was one of several victims of a school shooting perpetrated by Linda and Richard’s son.
- 1/30/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
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