Movie Review: White Boy Rick

White Boy Rick *** / *****

Directed by: Yann Demange.

Written by: Andy Weiss and Logan Miller & Noah Miller.

Starring: Richie Merritt (Ricky Wershe Jr), Matthew McConaughey (Richard Wershe Sr.), Bel Powley (Dawn Wershe), Jennifer Jason Leigh (FBI Agent Snyder), Eddie Marsan (Art Derrick), Bruce Dern (Grandpa Roman Wershe), Rory Cochrane (Agent Byrd), Piper Laurie (Grandma Verna Wershe), Brian Tyree Henry (Detective Jackson), RJ Cyler (Rudell Boo Curry), Jonathan Majors (Johnny 'Lil Man' Curry), Brad Carter (Bob the Gun Show Dealer), Taylour Paige (Cathy Volsan).

 

White Boy Rick tells the true story of Ricky Wershe Jr. (played by newcomer Richie Merritt), who at the age of 17 was sentenced to life in prison for dealing cocaine. Although he would get out – 30 years later – his story is one that makes one question the American justice system – that sentences young men to decades in prison, for non-violent drug offenses. Oddly, we know this problem mainly affects black men – the mandatory minimums target them while pretending to neutral, and yet one of the only stories we are being told about is this one about a white kid. That doesn’t make his story any less tragic or unjust – but it’s certainly a curious choice.

 

The movie tells the story of Ricky’s last three years of freedom – 1984-1987 -  before that decades long prison sentence. He grows up in Detroit – his mother has walked out on them, his father, Rick Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) has a dream of opening a chain of video stories, but for now is selling guns, sometimes legally, sometimes less so, and his sister Dawn (Bel Powley) has become strung out on drugs, and has left the family to move in with her dealer boyfriend. Ricky sinks deeper into the criminal life starting when he walks in to meet dealer Johnny Curry (Jonathan Majors) to sell a couple of AK’s, complete with homemade silencers. From there, he becomes a part of this loose knit gang around Johnny – the only white kid in a sea of black kids. And perhaps that’s why the FBI and local police target him as well. They want him to be their informant – to infiltrate the drug houses, give them tips. In exchange, he gets a little money – but also enough cocaine that he starts dealing himself.

 

Oddly, this is the aspect of Ricky’s story that White Boy Rick seems to concentrate on in terms of it being a story of injustice – that he was essentially trained by the government to sell drugs, and then punished by the government for selling drugs. But Rick was done with the authorities when he was arrested – and it’s really the mandatory minimums that lead to the decades of jail time – something the movie doesn’t take as much time exploring.

 

The film works better as a family drama than a crime story though. The performances by Richie Merritt, Matthew McConaughey and Bel Powley are the reason to see the film. This is Merritt’s first role, and he’s good at playing this naïve kid, who gets himself in over his head. But he doesn’t play him as just an innocent victim – he’s a smart kid, who figures out a way to survive. Powley is excellent as a junkie, who still remains a sympathetic character – she gets herself in over her head too, and cannot get out – but still loves her family. As for McConaughey, this is one of his best performances – he isn’t exactly a good guy – he is sleazy – but he is a family man, trying to do best by his family, given his circumstances. He’s smart enough to not get himself in too deep with anyone – which is also why his family struggles to pay the bills.

 

The film is directed by Yann Demange, following up his tense debut film ’71 about a British soldier caught behind enemy lines as they were in Ireland – and trying to survive. Here, he’s trying to ape Scorsese a little bit, and he does a good job. As the film progresses, it becomes a little less focused – as he tries to tell all the different stories, and they diverge a little bit. But it’s still fine direction.

 

I do think there is a larger story here that the film mainly sidesteps. The film tries to bring it down to a personal level, but it part of a bigger problem – and I’m not sure the film quite gets that. It’s a decent film, but it could have been a great one.

Movie Review: '71

‘71
Directed by: Yann Demange.
Written by: Gregory Burke.
Starring: Jack O'Connell (Gary Hook), Sam Reid (Lt. Armitage), Paul Anderson (Sergeant Leslie Lewis), Sean Harris (Captain Sandy Browning), Richard Dormer (Eamon), Killian Scott (Quinn).

Yann Demange’s ’71 is an excellent war time thriller, set during the “troubles” in Ireland in 1971 – which was the year before the most violent year this conflict saw. The film follows one British soldier – as he goes in with his unit to serve a simple search warrant, and ends up getting trapped in the city by himself. There are multiple factions involved – some want to kill him, some want to save him, and there are undercover agents who may want to do either, or both, at any one time. The remarkable thing about ’71 is how it keeps all of this straight, with very little in the way of exposition. The screenplay, by Geoffrey Burke, provides us with just enough information, before heading off in another direction at breakneck speed. The result is an exciting film – but also one that takes a confusing situation, and shows us the chaos that caused it, without becoming mired in it.

The film opens with a training montage of Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell – last seen in Unbroken, but much better here and in Starred Up), a young British soldier, from a poor background. He and his fellow soldiers are training in the woods, with camouflage and traditional war tactics – basically everything they do NOT need when their unit gets assigned to help out the police in Belfast. Their commanding officer (Sam Reid) is inexperienced and naïve – and has no idea what is about to come crashing down on them. Then again, to be fair, no one really does. They head out on a routine mission, and things quickly turn sour – with the local populace starting to throw rocks, and threatening to riot – and Hook and another soldier soon find themselves alone in the chaos. When the other solider is shot, Hook takes off – and thus begins a long night when his life is in constant danger.

The film is directed by first time filmmaker Yann Demange, who shows an expert sense of pacing and action from the start of his career. Early in the film, the constant, shaky, handheld camera work made me worry that the film would be yet another sub-Paul Greengrass (if you’re generous, Michael Bay is you’re not) thriller – but it’s anything but. Even in those early scenes, with the shaky camera work, Demange favors longer takes rather than rapid fire editing to place us inside the action. The effect is certainly chaotic, but also clear eyed – so we actually understand what is going on. As the movie progresses, we get fewer of these types of shaky camera work – as Demange changes his style for whatever set piece he is currently working on.

The resulting film is exciting and tense in part, but also intelligent. There are so many different factions – all of whom may be ready to kill one another at any given time, and many also willing to team up at others – and yet the film never loses the audience in the details. It is crystal clear at any one moment what precisely is going on – and where the biggest danger to Hook is coming from.

The film also works as an anti-war film. Most of the characters in the film – and all of the ones that truly risk their lives – are young men, who do not really understand the fight they are becoming involved in. Hook has no real clue what he’s doing, or why he’s doing it – and he may well have more in common – economically anyway - with those who want to kill him, than those who want to save him.

There have been a lot of movies about the “troubles” over the years – some very sympathetic to the IRA, some, not so much. ’71 is not really either here – it looks at a situation that was about ready to explode, and finds more than enough blame to go around. And then it wraps it up in an entertaining, expertly made package.