The Nth Ward

D grade movie. F grade acting. Wish I can get that 101 minutes back. I wasn't expecting much when I started watching but geez I wasn't expecting that. A big thumbs down.

So sick of fake reviews and I watched this based on the other reviews I saw here. I should have been warned when most have only reviewed this movie and raved about it. One of the reviewers even got the story line wrong.

It is a B grade movie at best. Acting is stilted but ok for an independent. Writing is shocking and direction feels claustrophobic. In one scene the lead actress runs out of her room almost undressed in a frightened state. She runs straight into the weird manager and the rest of the scene they stand about an inch away from one another. Unbelievable and mostly the actors looked like they didn't know what they were doing.

The story line is unoriginal - alcoholic losing daughter, been on the wagon for 6 months and ends up in a bar looking at a drink after being fired. Seen it before. Old woman with voodoo connections - seen it before. Corrupt mayor trying to evict said old woman - seen it before.

The story felt like it was trying too hard and got lost. It did nothing for post-katrina New Orleans and added nothing to the voodoo story line.

Avoid and ignore the obvious shill posters - a generous 3 from me.

Stilted script, poor acting. Not believable that the lead actress had military background at all.

The good ratings must be fake. So annoying.

No actors; no editing; no coherent story. Almost everyone looks as if they're reading right off the script. No real connection between the characters. Corruption in New Orleans? Tell me it ain't so. I lived there for some years, and that's all there is. Throw in some oblique references to voodoo, and no save. Unless you want to see some local color and fast forward the rest, don't bother. In fact if you see the first 15 minutes, that should be enough warning.

The Nth (sic) Ward shocks as well but it is not a virtue. There are at least 8 elements to consider when reviewing a film. Nth Ward fails on all of them but let's only consider a handful.

Characterization - The acting part of the film. James Harvey Ward comes closest to breathing life into Kitch, his character, but the whole reconstructed sensitive new age red neck thing just doesn't quite ring true. He is all utes and flannelette shirts whilst at the same time worrying about Juliette Bennett's shoes getting dirty. Still he is working with what the writers gave him and is sort of plausible. Juliette Bennett has the same shoddy writing to work with but simply can't rise to the challenge. Dialogue delivery is stilted and lacking credibility. It is possible to fill a column about Bennet's on screen presence but let's concentrate on one tell tale trait. She doesn't know what to do with her hands! Scene after scene sees her fumbling with her hands just not quite certain as what to do with them. It's sort of embarrassingly painful to watch and the benchmark of her ability as displayed in this film.

Plot - There is no plot. There are several unrelated and disjointed subplots. These include the supernatural, corrupt business dealings, environmental issues, a budding romance, an inter-racial family drama and so on. None of these is adequately explored or developed and make for a disjointed, fragmented and ultimately unsatisfying whole.

Setting - It's New Orleans for goodness sake! I know that it is post-Katrina but still, it's The Big Easy. Nth Ward could have been set anywhere. Apart from one of the many subplots concerning Voodoo and some footage of a brass band nothing of exotic, sweaty, historical, exciting, culturally rich, mysterious New Orleans makes it on to the screen. New Orleans itself contributes little or nothing to the film and this a sinful omission.