Motor City

Daring, unconventional filmmaking from Potsy Ponciroli to create an action film without words. It works because it is viscerally pleasing to focus on the stylish scenes, the pulse-quickening action sequences, and reading the faces and movements of the characters. The thrills go straight to the heart.

A Vietnam veteran in 1970s Detroit, John, is just off probation when a chance meeting with Sophia alters his life in more ways than one. The two fall in love, but with a hitch. Sophia's former boyfriend wants her back. Her ex is a mobster with police connections who frames John and returns him to prison. There John is taunted and beaten daily by the mobster's minions. Together with his wartime friends John plots a prison break, vengeance, and a route back to Sophia's arms.

There is hardly any dialogue to this violent, stylized, unique, and visceral revenge story. The film unfolds like a music video. Alan Ritchson (John), Shailene Woodley (Sophia), and Ben Foster (mobster) are up to the task. Fight scenes get the adrenaline pumping. While Detroit is the setting for Motor City, it is actually filmed in New Jersey. I watched the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.