By: debbie lynn elias
With John Hillcoat’s LAWLESS, the Oscar race gets a bit hotter with a too-die-for performance by Guy Pearce and a script adaptation by Nick Cave that completely captures the imagery, emotion and history of Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World. A fact meets fiction account of Bondurant’s grandfather Jack, and his uncles Howard and Forrest, LAWLESS is a slice of Americana of which many know very little but which is a core of America’s history – moonshine and bootlegging; in this case, in the prohibition era hills of Franklin County, Virginia.
Forrest Bondurant and his brother Howard are the stuff from which myths and legends are made. Only difference here is that they are real. They keep to themselves but are always first to lend a helping hand. And while Forrest knows how to run a business, Howard knows how to pack a punch to leave a grown man flat on his back. Younger brother Jack, on the other hand, is impetuous, full of energy and grandiose ideas, all of which lead him to take the brothers’ sleepy little moonshine business to new levels by supplying one of the biggest mobsters around, Floyd Banner, with all the product he can handle. Unfortunately for the Bondurants, Chicago’s Special Deputy Charlie Rakes has slinked into town determined to end all the moonshine business in the county, and to do it through corruption and ruthless violence. But the Bondurants aren’t going to take this lying down or be run into the ground by the likes of Charlie Rakes and will fight to the death to preserve their little bit of heaven.
Never a Tom Hardy fan, he has now won me over completely with his portrayal of Forrest Bondurant. Strong and silent, Hardy brings an air of mystery to Forrest that embodies the essence and secrecy of bootlegging. But then toss in Jessica Chastain as Maggie, a flawless beauty, a wanton woman from the city ready for a quiet life in the country, and watch the sparks fly. Hardy and Chastain smolder and sizzle with barely 50 words between them through the entire film. You can’t take your eyes off them when they are on screen.
Shia LaBeouf easily slides into the skin of Jack. Crediting a lot of the character to be “on the page”, “It was hard to drop the ball if you followed the guidelines. . .It was an incredible book and translated into an incredible script by Nick [Cave].” Initially concerned about “the amount that was going to be lumped on my shoulders” LaBeouf’s fears were ultimately assuaged by director John Hillcoat. “I’ve carried movies before but had really, really good co-stars in terms of things to look at, things to divert your attention. Here, there was no escaping any of that. The introspection was there for a reason and you would be going through it that way with a f***ing microscope on top of you. I think before I’d really had a full flushed out conversation with Hillcoat, I think I was nervous about my skill set and where I’d be able to go. For me, Hillcoat was the most nurturing, empathetic, emotional, sensitive man ever met at the helm and he allowed me to open up because I felt safe with him.” Eager and energetic with an arrogant impatience yet extreme likeability factor that buoys the performance, LaBeouf adds a liveliness to the story that is engaging. However, where he falls short on believability is with Jack’s courting of the local minister’s daughter. LaBeouf is too slick, unsympathetic as a “romantic” and lacks chemistry with Jack’s intended, Bertha, perfectly and piously played by Mia Wasikowska.
Jason Clarke is a surprise who, like Hardy, quietly fills the shoes of Howard, but then adds a touch of emotional shock value with raging violence and outbursts in defense of his brothers. Finding a great deal of value in speaking with book author Matt Bondurant and visiting and speaking with the Bondurant family about its history, Clarke delivers a very emotionally layered performance. Dean DeHaan is a charmer as Jack’s best friend, Cricket. A boy who is slightly “off”, DeHaan gives Cricket a sweetness that balances against the violence of Charlie Rakes’ attacks and big city racketeering of Floyd Banner who has a commanding presence thanks to a brief cameo by Gary Oldman. One of the film’s lynchpins is the relationship between Cricket and Jack, something that DeHaan and LaBeouf both believed required authenticity. For DeHaan, “It was really important that we established that relationship in our real lives so it could come across on screen. It was a big priority.” So, to make that connection the two took a 3 day cross country road trip from Los Angeles to the film’s Georgia location giving them time to bond and develop the crux of Cricket and Jack and giving them “strength”. Of course, it helped that they got a speeding ticket along the way, an event which will bind them together for life.
With his performance in LAWLESS, Guy Pearce should have a Best Supporting Oscar nomination in the bag. He steals the show! As Charlie Rakes, Pearce oozes evil and corruption with a villainous delicious decadence. Chameleonic in his appearance, Pearce’s physicality and nuance through costume and make-up is as transformative and transfixing as his emotional performance. If this isn’t Oscar-worthy, nothing is!
Wasted is a brief cameo by Gary Oldman as gangster Floyd Banner. With two very brief scenes, he puts an indelible stamp on the film but then “disappears” with no explanation; the one shortcoming in an otherwise exemplary film.
Written by Nick Cave, not only does LAWLESS paint an historically accurate picture of this slice of American history, but Cave provides an intensely personal character study of the Bondurant brothers and their relationships with not only each other but those around them, grounding it all with honesty and decency. Giving the Bondurant brothers seemingly “mythical invincibility”, and told with a homey sensibility, one feels as if a family is gathered around a fireplace listening to elders regale tales of their youth. Both Labeouf and DeHaan read Matt Bondurant’s book after being cast but before reading the script and have nothing but praise for Cave’s adaptation. Both “love it” with LaBeouf noting that, as to be expected with an adaptation there are some variations, however, “[t]he things that it does vary from are minuscule, I think. And they’re age related. It has to do with casting. It has nothing to do with the depths and the meanings and the feelings that are in that book. All the feelings translate.”
Adding to the script construct is John Hillcoat’s direction and Benoit Delhomme’s cinematography. Shot digitally, but appearing with a textured film-like quality, the visual tone is steeped in the dustiness of the depression and the colors of nature. Transient scenes are pastoral and serene, celebrating the quiet beauty of the backwoods, speaking volumes about the lives of these people. The color red punctuates the muted browns and greens both in Maggie’s costumes and blood splatter, creating a mesmerizing effect. The violence is never gratuitous and is befitting the era. At times brutal and bloody, we see the differences between the backwoods world of men fighting men and that of city men wanting to rule the world through gunfire. Survival of the fittest. Survival of a way of life. On technical downfall in the film comes with the sound mix of Tom Hardy’s dialogue. Often spoken so softly and often “mumbled”, the words are unintelligible, drowned out by a sound mix with an imbalance of score, other dialogue and ambient background noise.
What is most appreciated with LAWLESS is the filming location. Although unable to film in Franklin County itself, Hillcoat and his team found a perfect location in Peachtree, Georgia. With many rural buildings still standing that date back to the days of prohibition and which are all showcased in the film, the people of the area also added much to the production process as many are still living life similar to the Bondurants and still making “shine” and running bootleg. This living history not only helped inform the actors performances, but gives the film an aura of mystique just like the Bondurants and the bootlegging world of moonshine.
Interestingly, the young actors were not too “impressed” with filming in an historical setting. As opined by LaBeouf, “You’re still driving on the same trade routes. It’s still the same. Every movie or documentary we get, your location would be there.” What did make a difference, however, was the isolation of the area and the isolation of the set and the cast and crew. ” Being isolated, making it a camp atmosphere where your only social[izing] is your brothers or your best friend or the girl that you’re in love with, so it makes it so that there’s not a lot of conjuring. It just is what it is. You just live and breathe in it. As long as you can stay truthful and committed to it, you really can’t fail. That’s what I mean by sort of, fail safe. When you’re surrounded by the group it informs the performance more than you even understand.”
Not to be overlooked is the music, much of which is written and performed by Nick Cave. Eclectic and raw, the music embodies the blues and bluegrassy rhythms of the time and the people.
On every level, it is impossible to turn away from the story unfolding onscreen. Emotionally and historically immersive, LAWLESS is close to flawless.
Forrest Bondurant – Tom Hardy
Howard Bondurant – Jason Clarke
Jack Bondurant – Shia LaBeouf
Cricket – Dane DeHaan
S.A. Charlie Rakes – Guy Pearce
Floyd Banner – Gary Oldman
Maggie – Jessica Chastain
Directed by John Hillcoat.
Written by Nick Cave based on the book The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant.
