Mélanie Laurent has been acting in feature films for the past couple of decades. Unbeknownst to me, however, she has also turned her hand to directing. I need to check out some of her other directorial work, because this is a very good crime drama. In fact, I'm surprised to have not really heard this mentioned before, either in conversations about films in general or conversations about modern crime dramas.
Ben Foster plays Roy, a hitman who is told that he only has a short amount of time to live. It's a problem with his lungs. Despite his impending death, Roy fights back, successfully, when his latest job turns out to be a trap. He then flees, accompanied by a young woman named Rocky (Elle Fanning). Rocky also wants to rescue her younger sister, Tiffany, and Roy eventually finds himself making some tough decisions in order to keep both girls safe.
Written by Nic Pizzolatto, Galveston is nothing very new or unique. It is a film made better by the cast, and the straightforward and unfussy direction from Laurent (although there is one lovely bit of work that allows a scene to play out in an extended single shot, yet without feeling overly precious about the technique). But the strength of these things together - script, direction, cast - creates a film that shows how important every individual element is. Take enough care with the basics and you can easily end up with something that is more than the sum of its parts, like this.
Foster is very good in his role, playing the kind of pained and relatively tight-lipped character he has played in some other movies. Fanning is equally good, allowing her character to show the mix of optimism, slight naivete, and determination that is written in. Beau Bridges also does well, in a small, pivotal, role, but the film constantly revolves around the central trio of Roy, Rocky, and Tiffany (played by Anniston and Tinsley Price).
For a film that has a sense of foreboding from the very first scenes, Galveston is most surprising in the moments when viewers can contemplate a happy ending for some of the characters. The pacing, the characters, the journey, they all allow space for some big highs and lows. Laurent shows how good her instincts are, having faith in the script and the performances, and the finished product shows that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to deliver something familiar that also manages not to feel tired and lazy.
8/10
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