The Integrity of Joseph Chambers

A family man, hoping to prove his survivalist capabilities and manliness to his family, decides to irresponsibly head off into the woods and go deer hunting by himself.

The second feature narrative I saw at Southern Screen and it was intriguing if for no other reason that the trailers kept it pretty shady as far as what actually ends up happening. This set up has plenty of potential so as long as it wasn't just a man walking around the woods with no shake-ups at all I assumed I'd like it all right. Thankfully something DOES happen.... but not much.

My friend watching this movie with me at one points in the first third said "I guess this is a slow burn" and he wasn't kidding because everything in this movie is slow. And that's mostly because they show nearly everything that happens and then hold on every shot FOREVER. Somewhere out there there is a 40 minute cut of this 1h36m movie and it changes nothing about the story. We see very little but him doing mundane tasks for the first half; getting ready, walking through the woods, looking around, walking through the woods some more, etc. Many of these are long takes which would be impressive if more was actually happening.

Highlighting that is the very misguided sound mixing. I'm guessing in post they realized the film didn't have much to hold interest for these incredibly long moments so they decided to jazz it up with some loud music stings and overbearing score moments. They feel like they are trying to convert what's happening on screen as something alarming. Just when you think nothings gonna happen 🎵 DUN-DUN! 🎶....nothing happens. They all feel like purposeful ruses to keep you awake. "Be scared by this!" Other times I wanted spoken moments louder or at the very least to have subtitles to understand the whispery deliveries.

Near the halfway mark we finally get our shake-up moment that gives this some actual stakes. I won't spoil it much but it does give our main character a moral dilemma to grapple with. However it does come with its own annoyances and moments where characters make odd decisions "just because."

Switching to some positives, I have to give props to Clayne Crawford who basically has to hold the film together. If his performance had been subpar I don't think the film would be worth anything but he has to hold the camera for pretty much the entire film. He has to convey most of his emotions with very little dialogueI, and any time it is spoken he has the task of trying to make talking to yourself look realistic. I also like the moments where Joe is reenacting something in his head and we hear what he hears. At one point he is throwing dirt clod in the woods imagining he's pitching at the World Series and we actually hear the crowds cheering and other sfx. It's a relatable peek into his mind, a nice way of showing it, and feeds into his insecurities about how he sees himself. He's a guy who wants to be taken seriously and prove he can provide outside of his career as an insurance salesman, this being the reasoning behind why he takes off on this solo hunting venture in the first place.

When faced with two choices the movie does ultimately end up going the direction I was hoping for but there were still plenty of other routes I was hoping for prior to that. While the integrity of the title character can be admired, the movie as a whole still leaves much to be desired.

Is this the eclectic art and croissant crowd that mistakes ind film projects as a level of depth in an abstraction, professed with transcendence of varying topography of hypocrisy, and.... (What the hell?)

It's not an experiment in anything but delusions: is probably too real to be a thing else.

Money from business, that " good" at ("you're a great insurance salesman") never mind the pronoun (for shame).

Makes money, check. Nice house and wife, double check.

Arse and incompetent... Yeah, that's about right.

So the the Ineptitude of Joseph Chambers involves an idiot, no training, maybe on the spectrum, Rich friend won't stop him just send of to have fun with a rifle not sure which end is which.

Yeah, brilliant.

Self portrait of just how unprepared we are, for just about everything. This is a bit of a dark comedy in that a regular working joe who's a good guy decides to go deer hunting on land owned by a friend, but he knows nothing about shooting hunting or even how to walk thru the woods. After much distraction contemplation and singing to himself, a deer finally appears in a field just ahead of him easily within rifle range. He is totally clueless as what to do next and starts running after the deer with his rifle, when something completely unexpected happens, leaving him to do something men are actually good at. Messing things up, then trying to cover it up. Worth watching to observe what modernity convenience and easy living have made us into, even with our best intentions.

This is not a shoot 'em up or an action flick, with the one shot actually fired occurring almost by accident. The real meaning is to be found only in the message, which is both clever and delivered subtly. Pay attention to the beliefs of the family that are revealed in just a few lines of dialogue. Modern moviegoers don't like having to pay attention.

Muchgrace.church.

As I was watching this film, it wasn't long into it, that I start noticing the stupidity of the characters. I suppose that in itself is entertaining, but usually it's more frustrating and maddening. This film definitely doesn't lead you into laughing about the ridiculousness of stupidity either.

I asked myself WHY I continued to watch this movie....clear up to the last 15 minutes. And that is when it became clear.

Then the ending left me with different questions.

I like that!!

I bet many people will not understand or like this movie. I'm not sure I understand it....

All I can say is I liked it. It made me think and feel.

As you can see I have very mixed feelings about this curate's egg.

The set up is great. A city boy has married a country girl and wants to prove that he can go hunting in local woods in his own Alexander Supertramp moment. He has no experience, no idea and no chance of success. Every stumble over a twig or branch is torture. His fumbling loading of the gun is cringeworthy. The ease with which he gets distracted is mind numbing.

I won't say how all this plays out but we can see it coming a mile away. This is mostly because of the interminable slow pace of the film which will have the average viewer anxiously looking at their watch fro a half hour in.

Could have been a short story.