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ADOPT A HIGHWAY
Director: Logan Marshall-Green Cast: Ethan Hawke, Elaine Hendrix, Diane Gaeta, Mo McRae, Chris Sullivan, Betty Gabriel MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:18 Release Date: 11/1/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 31, 2019 All that we need to know about Russell Millings (Ethan Hawke) comes from a few newspaper clippings at the start of Adopt a Highway. First, while he was in high school in Wyoming, he organized a project to clean litter from a stretch highway. Second, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the possession of an ounce of marijuana in California—the result of that state's "three strikes" legislation. The story proper begins with Russell being released on parole, 22 years after his conviction. He's quiet. He's timid. He's nervous. It's almost as if he doesn't want to leave prison, and in a way, maybe Russell doesn't. What could there be for him in a world that he left behind and that has left him behind—the extent to which he has no comprehension? Writer/director Logan Marshall-Green's debut film is a low-key, observant, and ultimately quite affecting examination of Russell's life, following his release from prison. It depends entirely on our knowledge that this man could have been something—a decent and upstanding member of society with a good life—save for a young man's mistake and an overbearing justice system. The irony, of course, is that such a sentence for such a crime wouldn't be thought possible now. The world has changed. Has Russell? Marshall-Green only briefly cares about plot, as Russell discovers a newborn baby left in a garbage bin behind the restaurant where he works. He begins to care for the baby girl in the motel room where he has been living. Legally, this is more than a mistake, although he isn't aware of that fact until later. Morally, it is, in his mind, the right thing to do for someone so helpless, so hopeless, so alone, and, well, so much like him at the moment. The film, as simple as it may be, works as well as it does because of its moral center. Russell, portrayed with few words but abundant compassion by Hawke, is a good man. Along the way—taking care of the baby and, later, deciding that the time is right to go home—he meets people who are similarly ordinary, hardened, or troubled but decent—above all else, decent. With its avid belief in the fundamental goodness of people, Adopt a Highway is a minor but deeply moving film. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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