Mass

The parents of a killer and his victim agree to meet up in Franz Kranz’s debut of rare quality.

Fran Kranz is an American actor who was born in 1981 but the quality of Mass, his first feature film as writer and director, is so high that it could alter the direction of his career. In American cinema today it is all too rare to come across a work that tackles serious subject matter and is aimed first and foremost at a thoughtful and intelligent audience. If to describe Mass in those terms makes it sound daunting to some, it is important to stress that it's not, being instead an entirely accessible work that enables four leading players to play at the top of their form and in the process the viewer is gripped throughout.

If some critics have chosen to compare Mass with that classic of the 1950s, 12 Angry Men, it is for good reason. Just as Sidney Lumet’s masterwork took place almost entirely within a jury room, Kranz’s piece, a screen original, is mainly located in the basement of an Episcopalian church in Idaho where two sets of parents are brought together by a social worker (Breeda Wool). Jay and Gail (Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton) are a couple who some six years earlier had lost a son in a school shooting, while Richard and Linda (Reed Birney and Ann Dowd) are the parents of the disturbed youth who had caused his death. Neither family has been able to fully come to terms with the tragedy and the meeting is one that has been arranged in the hope that an informal talk between the four of them will at last yield a degree of closure.

Mass opens with small talk as the room is prepared, but the nature of the meeting is not immediately disclosed. However, for the viewer to be aware of it is an advantage. It adds to the sense of the contrast between the everyday words that are spoken and which even colour the opening remarks by both sets of parents and the underlying emotional intensity inherent in the situation. When the real talk does start, we gradually discover more and more about what happened at the school and that is intriguing in itself. Nevertheless, as in 12 Angry Men, there is even greater interest in what we learn about the central characters. With great truthfulness, Kranz’s screenplay reveals the disparate viewpoints of all four parents and the different ways in which each responded to what they saw unfolding. Encountering four distinct sensibilities, we recognise the complexity of human life and, while falling far short of the extreme differences of interpretation presented in Rashomon or the recent The Last Duel, it also becomes clear to us how each person’s attitude and perceptions are coloured by their own individual emotions and character.

Late on the dialogue does develop a slightly more theatrical feel and it is debatable whether or not the film should have been a few minutes shorter. There is a scene close to the end which could have concluded it but doesn't and the actual conclusion seems unexpectedly to hint rather vaguely and indirectly at a Christian viewpoint. But, for the most part, this is compelling filmmaking which feels properly cinematic and furthermore the writing has a depth which enables the players (not least Martha Plimpton and the always wonderful Ann Dowd) to excel. At a time when all too few films offer so much food for thought, Mass should not be missed.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Breeda Wool, Kagen Albright, Michelle N. Carter, Michael White, Campbell Spoor.

Dir Fran Kranz, Pro Fran Kranz, Dylan Matlock, Casey Wilder Mott and J.P. Ouellette, Screenplay Fran Kranz, Ph Ryan Jackson-Healy, Pro Des Lindsay Moran, Ed Yang Hua Hu, Music Darren Morze, Costumes Michelle Minailo..

7 Eccles Street/Circa 1888/5B Productions-Sky Cinema.
107 mins. USA. 2021. US Rel: 8 October 2021. UK Rel: 21 January 2022. Cert. 12A.