A man is hunting a deer in the woods behind his home. He hears a rustle in the trees. He shoots. He pursues his prey, only to find to his horror that he has shot and killed not a deer -- but a beautiful young woman.
So begins "A Single Shot", from director David M. Rosenthal, adapted by author Matthew F. Jones from his own 1996 novel. It's a repressively bleak film, an arduous experience to sit through, but worthwhile due to the strength of its leading man, Sam Rockwell. Over the course of the past decade or so, Rockwell has proven himself to be one of our country's most dynamic and talented actors through his compelling performances in such varied films as the sci-fi mystery "Moon", the crime comedy "Seven Psychopaths", and, most recently, the indie coming-of-age film "The Way, Way Back".
In "A Single Shot" he delivers yet another stunning performance in a role unlike any he's played before. Rockwell most often excels as a sarcastic motormouth, but here he plays a man of very few words. His John Moon is a solitary man, living alone in a trailer in the backwoods of Upstate New York. He's a hermitic divorcé, preferring to spend his days hunting with his dog than with any human company. That changes when he finds a staggeringly large amount of cash belonging to the stranger he accidentally killed. When he takes the money, he unwittingly drags himself into the very ugly world of human interaction. There are other people after the money, you see. Very bad people who will do anything to get back their bag of stolen cash. Moon soon becomes little more than a cornered animal, and Rockwell expertly conveys the desperation that is disguised -- but not hidden -- behind Moon's bushy beard and soft voice. Once he's latched himself to the hope of a better life, he finds himself spiraling deeper and deeper into violence in his attempts to hold on to it. It's a gut-wrenching portrayal of the slow disintegration of a man.
If all this sounds a little familiar, you're right. It is nearly identical to the plot of the Coen Brothers' "No Country For Old Men", adapted from Cormac McCarthy's acclaimed novel. Since McCarthy's novel was published in 2005, almost a decade after "A Single Shot", it's impossible to criticize this movie for copying that Best Picture-winning film. But the similarities in plot to such a well-regarded film do this one no favors. It all feels very been-there-done-that. Really, the whole thing is borrowed piecemeal from other, better films -- it blends the noir crime from "No Country" or Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" with the backwoods drama of "Winter's Bone", employing the stark wilderness cinematography of "Cold Mountain".
Lucky, then, that the cast is so strong. Besides Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright is also terrific as Moon's only friend, a sad alcoholic cad who knows more about the events than he lets on. He's 100% committed to the role, although his drunken rambling is often difficult to decipher. Joe Anderson and Jason Isaacs both deliver great but differing performances as the film's villains: Anderson is all wiry, tweaked-out fury, while Isaacs is full of a more sinister, controlled menace. William H. Macy does a fantastic job playing a sleazy lawyer, but his quirky, crippled, toupee-wearing, plaid-suit-sporting mishmash of clichés is a perfect example of this film's penchant for borrowing from other works.
Perhaps someone other than the author would have done a better job of adapting the book to the screen, as the film at times feels overstuffed with characters and unnecessarily complicated for what's really a simple premise. Events that are probably given plenty of room to breathe on the written page feel crammed and unfocused here. An unbiased eye may have been able to streamline the story and avoid the clichéd traps Jones kept veering into. One gets the sense that with a better script, Rosenthal could have delivered a crackerjack of a film. He expertly ratchets up the tension (with the help of a dynamite score) and is certainly skilled at coaxing superior performances from his actors. If "A Single Shot" is successful at anything, it's proving that Rockwell can spin gold out of even mediocre straw, and that Rosenthal is a director to keep an eye on, given the right material. Unfortunately, "A Single Shot" isn't quite it.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVmYiPBctmE[/youtube]
