The film, The Twenty, might on the surface at first appear an ill-disguised alcoholic biopic, rife with the usual twelve step soul-cleansing triumphs over the curse and all that but, in fact, it's not. That's because it's a cinematic character study, and the obsessive search for good that can break the person looking for something ill-defined suffuses and darkens every scene.
While some deeper development of players might have helped and some scenes are slow, Chopper Bernet's gorgeously shot film and his telling, cinema verite camera style and long, crawling holds on shots conveys a felt and unsettling atmosphere. His talented actors - which includes Bernet in the lead role - render a palpable life of the damned as each person in this small town who the main character encounters struggles with regret or acts they can't undo.
In that regard, it's a realistic depiction of the hardening that can take over lives when it feels like someone should pay the karma, for us, maybe by our hand...but in real life you're lucky if you even get a shot at resolution, or one that clean. The reassuring thing might be that we are sometimes someone else's salvation, and to withdraw from that second chance is to court destruction all over again. Carty Fox of The Twenty, like a lot of us, has no idea where he's headed, and thankfully he doesn't spare us with bromides and fairy tales about how everything turns around when you stop the drinking or act better. Getting clear might just be enough. It's a messy little movie, uneven and raw. It should be.
