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A Chilling Movie

 Fran Kranz made an interesting debut with "Mass." It's a movie about language--groping for language. That's the entirety of the movie. Two couples meet at a church. Clearly, something terrible has occurred. The couples try to find words. They do a little dance involving a potted plant. It's a gift from Ann Dowd to Martha Plimpton. Does Martha have to accept it? Where should it sit in the room? Is it to be "interpreted," or is it just a potted plant?


What emerges is that Ann Dowd's son has murdered Plimpton's son. Dowd's son was essentially Dylan Klebold; there is a "Columbine" story in Dowd's past.

Kranz has done his research. Two offshoots of the Columbine story involved diagnoses and God. (1) Do we say Klebold was evil, or that he was in pain? Some people argue that the "psychopathy" diagnosis is meaningless--it encourages us to stop asking questions when we should keep asking questions. (2) What to make of the Christian right? After Columbine, an industry grew out of a fable. One of the victims allegedly professed her faith in God before dying. Except that the story was a lie. Before the truth was exposed, an "inspirational" book had reared its head within one of America's opportunistic publishing houses.

These topics are diverting--but the heart of the movie is a particular anecdote. Ann Dowd asks for a story about Plimpton's son. Plimpton finally makes a disclosure. It's a banal story. The son wanted to play football--and Plimpton said, "Just don't get dirty. We have a dinner party." And the son said, "I NEED to get dirty. The better you play, the dirtier you get." Dowd suggests that *this* was the meaning of the son's life--the son existed to give this happy-silly memory to Plimpton.

After a great deal of throat-clearing, Dowd awkwardly volunteers her own story. "My son was angry and crying and playing one of his video games. I said, If you can't be happy, why don't you at least do your homework? You may not be happy, but you can at least do well. The son became enraged and threatened to assault Dowd (who then found a hiding spot). Dowd ends by saying, I now wish I had let him assault me. Then I might have *known* him."

This movie has a heavyweight cast--and Dowd is first among equals. It's Dowd who generated the loudest "awards buzz."

I thought some portions were juicier than others, and I became impatient with the rather tidy ending. But I loved Dowd--and I continue to wish she had a "louder" Hollywood career.

Worth renting.

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