Female Film Critics 24/375
When Linda Yellin’s Chantilly Lace was released as a TV movie in 1993, it invoked strong feelings from viewers – many of whom related to the deep connection between the seven BFFs. Others dismissed the improv-inspired film as little more than women talking. The fans apparently won out because the friends are back in Chantilly Bridge, 25 years older, if not necessarily wiser.
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Make no mistake. This is a difficult psychological drama to watch, as first-time writer/director Fran Kranz delves into the grief of two sets of parents whose children were involved in a high-school shooting. How do people cope with this kind of tragedy? And how do they ever move on? During the uninterrupted conversation, questions abound as resentment leads to understanding. Eventually, each character experiences a personal epiphany in trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy.
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If you don’t know the name Fran Kranz, you soon will. While this actor has a healthy resume, it’s his sharp eye for story telling that most assuredly will catapult this first-time writer and director into the stratosphere with his writing and directorial debut of Mass starring Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney. With a keen ear for dialogue, a skilled eye, and deft direction of this passionate ensemble cast, the result is one of the most harrowingly complex and captivating films in recent memory.
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Somber chamber drama Mass, actor Fran Kranz’s writing and directing debut about two sets of parents dealing and confronting each other after the loss of their sons in a mass shooting is a very tough watch. It teeters at the edge but never crosses the border into grief porn, and that’s to the credit of the ensemble cast and a well-crafted story arc in the screenplay.
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Honey Bee is an affecting drama about a trafficked teenage girl who gets a chance at self-discovery. Every element of the film involves clear-eyed storytelling, and not a single sound or sight has anything showy or extraneous about it. There’s nothing standing in the way of complete emotional investment.
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