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TRUE THINGS
Director: Harry Wootliff Cast: Ruth Wilson, Tom Burke, Hayley Squires, Elizabeth Rider, Frank McCusker, Ann Firbank, Tom Weston-Jones MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:42 Release Date: 9/9/22 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 8, 2022 The guy takes over the life of Kate (Ruth Wilson), the bored and mostly boring protagonist of True Things. He's an enigma, although not much of one, and that appeals to Kate, not so much because she wants to figure out who he is and what he's about, but because he actually offers her moments of intense attention from time to time. She wants that all the time, though, because it's clear that Kate is uncomfortable with being alone. Co-writer/director Harry Wootliff's movie is a character study, although, just as with the mysterious man whose true nature only takes a scene or two to determine, it doesn't take too much time or effort to show the kind of person Kate is. She's lost and uncertain and feeling trapped in a life that should be so much more. The movie feels stuck with her, unable to go deeper than the surface-level melancholy of watching Kate become increasingly obsessed with and be constantly disappointed by this one man. He's known only as "Blond," and the character is played by Tom Burke, who has a way of being both alluring and off-putting in his strange quality of aloof directness. He literally charms the tights and underwear off Kate in a parking garage after only their second meeting in one day. Blond is a welfare claimant, an ex-con, at the office where she works. When he shows up for an appointment, he vaguely flirts with Kate, and later, he waits for her outside the office to go out for a drink. Instead, they end up having sex in the garage, and after a long period of waiting for Blond to call, Kate sees him again, before waiting for him to call back. The cycle continues as such with little interruption to the repetitive story, written by Wootliff and Molly Davies (based on Deborah Kay Davies' novel) or insight into Kate beyond her unhappiness with herself and where she is in her life. There are suggestions or displays of patterns forming, such as friend (played by Hayley Squires) noting that this isn't the first time Kate has had a romantic experience like this and Kate repeatedly making excuses to get out of work. Otherwise, it's all about her connection to Blond—the euphoria when he's with her and calling her "lovely," the disappointment when he suddenly disappears, the depression when he stops calling or texting for stretches of time. Wilson's performance is fine, although this two-note character certainly limits how much the actor can do. Ultimately, the point, of course, is that Kate has to break free of this man in order to start being happy with and about herself. True Things saves that idea, though, until late in the third act, and by that point, it's too late for us really care about the person Kate will become, if only because there aren't any hints of it until then. Copyright © 2022 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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