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LORELEI
Director: Sabrina Doyle Cast: Pablo Schreiber, Jena Malone, Chancellor Perry, Amelia Borgerding, Parker Pascoe-Sheppard, Trish Egan, Ryan Findley, Joseph Bertót, Lynn Sher, Dana Millican, Jeb Berrier MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:51 Release Date: 7/30/21 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 29, 2021 In the way it depicts how little can change over a significant period of time, Lorelei possesses some tough honesty. Indeed, writer/director Sabrina Doyle's debut feature finds some truth in the ordinary lives of a makeshift family, until one choice sends the entire story actually looking for something deeper. It doesn't need and actually suffers from the excursion. Until that point, this is the story of Wayland (Pablo Schreiber), the member of a motorcycle gang who's released on parole from prison, after being incarcerated for 15 years on account of an armed robbery. Wayland is welcomed by his former club (Ryan Findley plays the boss), a local pastor (played by Trish Egan) who runs the halfway house where he starts living, and his high school sweetheart Dolores (Jena Malone). The two once had big dreams for a life together. Now she's raising her three children (played by Chancellor Perry, Amelia Borgerding, and Parker Pascoe-Sheppard) on her own. Within a night, the emotional and physical connection returns pretty quickly, but Wayland, overwhelmed by the three-child household, initially hesitates in starting a romance again. Dolores puts him in his place, and the parolee moves in with the family. Most of this story is just about Wayland and Dolores trying to re-discover their footing together, the two trying to make ends meet in jobs that barely pay the bills, and Wayland becoming accustomed to being like a surrogate father, while attempting to avoid the criminal life that landed him in prison in the first place. It's simple—at times difficult, as these characters struggle with such everyday concerns and some pretty deep regrets, and sometimes lovely, such as when Wayland saves Dolores' daughter's birthday with a tire swing. We believe these characters, this relationship, and how hopeful and comfortable some romantic notion of the past would be to them. It's a thoughtful movie, focused on ordinary things, as well as Schreiber and Malone's fine performances, but that, unfortunately, doesn't last. The third act of Lorelei revolves around one character's decision, putting everything this family has built—as shaky and trying as it may be at times—in jeopardy. The choice itself makes a certain amount of sense (although it definitely puts said character in a questionable light), but from there, Doyle rushes this story toward a conclusion that is somehow both too pat and too ambiguous. Copyright © 2021 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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