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Heartland Film Festival: ‘Back Roads’ will rip your heart out, but it’ll irk the brain too

When reading up on Back Roads prior to viewing it, a  willingness to touch upon dark, taboo themes was within its plot. I was  expecting something quite uneasy. Back Roads delivered on that  aspect, but from an angle that was not expected. For a movie considered a  drama, it isn’t really a dramatic film; there are moments of emotional  intensity, but most of the film drama is more subtle and bubbles under  the surface.

The bleakness of Back Roads is prevalent throughout the  entirety of the film, but it evolves and escalates. In the first half of  the film, there is almost a mystery novel whodunit feeling as Harley  tries to uncover all of the details of his father’s murder that his  mother was arrested for. But as the film goes on, the importance of the  murderer slowly fades away. Who did it does not seem to matter anymore;  all that is significant is how his presence and death has slowly  destroyed Harley and the rest of the Altmyer family.

The film’s plodding pace and subtle, eerie mood is only emphasized  with Alex Pettyfer’s portrayal of Harley Altmyer. It’s obvious from his  performance that Harley is someone damaged by his traumatic past; most  scenes with him give off an uncomfortable, off-kilter vibe. A big part  of that is that it seems in quite a lot of his scenes, there is always a  second-long pause between dialogue. It’s a choice that does create an  eerie tone in some interaction, such as a lot of his early scenes with  Jennifer Morrison’s character, but more often than not it makes an  already slowly-paced film seem even slower. Overall, Pettyfer delivers  an interesting, if not flawed, performance that encapsulates the mood of  Back Roads.

The quality of the performances run the gamut, from mediocre and/or  awkward (Nicola Peltz and Chiara Aurelia as Amber and Misty Altmyer), to  solid but not spectacular (Alex Pettyfer’s Harley Altmyer and Jennifer  Morrison as Callie), to short but scene-stealing (Juliette Lewis as  Bonnie Altmyer, June Carryl as Harley’s therapist).

The weakest part of the characters is their development. The  Altmyers, the family the entire film is supposed to revolve around, are  the biggest victims of the film’s Achilles Heel. Harley, while he is the  most developed character, is mostly defined by being awkward, quiet,  and having a drinking problem. Amber, the oldest daughter, is esentially  just a bratty teenage girl archetype cranked up to 11 and easily the  most unlikeable character of the film. While it is not expected for  young children characters to be as deep as their older counterparts,  Jody Altmyer has next to no character.  

For a movie like Back Roads, it is imperative that the main  characters seem realistic and three-dimensional. They don’t necessarily  need to perfect or kind people, the leads of Back Roads make  their share of questionable decisions, but they need to seem like real  people to make the drama and tragedy that much more tangible. So when  Harley and his sisters are going through struggle after struggle, there  is a layer of separation that makes it feel less poignant. Their trauma  of child abuse and losing their mother and father does give the audience  something to sympathize with them for, but other than that there is no  reason for viewers to care for them as people.





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Featured image: Heartland

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