End of Sentence
John Hawkes and Logan Lerman play a father and son in a road movie that spells success for another first-time director.
John Hawkes and Logan Lerman
With this film, the Icelandic director Elfar Adalsteins makes his feature debut and what is unusual about it is his decision to ignore his home ground and to tell a story which, beginning in Alabama, mainly takes place in Ireland. Altogether more conventional is his choice of story. Only recently we saw Homeward a film from Ukraine which depicts a journey undertaken by a father and son who, initially at loggerheads, may as they travel together achieve a better relationship. In point of fact, Homeward is far from being the only arthouse film that has portrayed a situation of this kind: Ismaël Ferroukhi's splendid Le Grand Voyage (2004) which featured a journey to Mecca comes to mind while shared travel of a different kind (it involved the delivery by hand of wedding invitations undertaken by a father and son) was central to Annemarie Jacir's Wajib (2017).
Stories of this sort have a wide appeal so it is understandable that they should also feature in films shown outside the arthouse circuit. Michael Armbruster's screenplay for End of Sentence plays to this aim and happily he does not make the mistake of letting the piece become indulgently sentimental as a way of adding to its commercial potential. What we get is a story that is well set up and is aided by acting of a high standard. The film wastes no time in getting started. Even before we reach the credit titles the basis of the tale has been established. Frank Fogle (John Hawkes) is a devoted husband confronting the knowledge that his wife, Anna (Andrea Irvine), is dying of cancer and this at a time when their son, Sean (Logan Lerman), is in jail, albeit on the verge of ending a sentence for auto theft. The crime has distanced Frank from his son and it is partly in the hope of bringing about a reconciliation that Anna's last wish is for the two of them to travel together to her homeland, Ireland, to scatter her ashes at a fondly remembered lake. Once released, Sean has an opportunity to take up work in California but is talked into first carrying out his late mother's wish.
End of Sentence is an intensely likeable movie. One positively senses the pleasure that Adalsteins feels in making it and his photographer, Karl Oskarsson, assists with attractive pictures of the Irish locations. Music plays a part in creating the atmosphere and it extends both to songs on the soundtrack and to a rendition in a pub of 'Dirty Old Town'. This latter scene brings in Sarah Bolger in the role of Jewel, a young woman encountered by our travellers in Ireland who give her a lift. However, her role in the story is only gradually revealed. Hawkes, Lerman and Bolger are all well cast and the film balances humorous touches (some of these draw on the contrast between Frank's old-fashioned conservatism and naivety and his son's brasher attitude) and the serious concern that the audience is invited to feel over the question of whether or not there will be a reconciliation between father and son.
End of Sentence is modest in intent but succeeds on its own terms save for a phase about two-thirds of the way through. Just for a while events take on a heightened tone and play in a different register. It's a definite misstep but happily the film rights itself in the closing scenes. The film is certainly not above criticism but it will give pleasure.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: John Hawkes, Logan Lerman, Sarah Bolger, Andrea Irvine, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Denis Conway, Lalor Roddy, David Grant Wright, Sean Malon, Mary McEvoy, Aoibhin Murphy, Marion O'Dwyer.
Dir Elfar Adalsteins, Pro Elfar Adalsteins and David Collins, Screenplay Michael Armbruster, Ph Karl Oskarsson, Pro Des Ray Ball, Ed Gudlaugur Andri Eythórsson, Kristján Lodmfjörd and Valdis Óskarsdottir, Costumes Lara Campbell.
Berserk Films/Samson Films/Rocket Science/ Palomar Pictures-Blue Finch Film Releasing.
96 mins. Iceland/Ireland/USA. 2019. Rel: 10 May 2021. Available on VOD. Cert. 15.
