Matthew McConaughey delivers certainly one of his finest performances in Andrew Patterson’s excellent southern yarn, The Rivals of Amziah King.
PLOT: Following the demise of her mom, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) reunites along with her beloved former foster father, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), a honey-maker working within the backwoods of rural Oklahoma.
REVIEW: It’s arduous to consider, but it surely’s been six complete years since Matthew McConaughey has appeared in a movie (The Gents). Certain, he’s completed some voice work and commercials, however strolling into The Rivals of Amziah King, I didn’t notice simply how a lot I missed him till the film’s bravura opening sequence. On this expertly directed introduction to what’s undoubtedly the most effective movie I noticed at SXSW this 12 months, McConaughey’s Amziah pulls as much as an outside eatery the place he meets some mates and jams with them, enjoying homegrown roots rock, with all of them singing and enjoying with the kind of pleasure that may’t assist however wash over the viewers.
It’s an effective way of introducing Amziah, who’s proven within the movie to be the beloved spine of his neighborhood, making mates wherever he goes and placing as a lot good into the world as he can. It’s a task tailored for McConaughey, along with his good ol’ boy allure infectious. Director Andrew Patterson, whose earlier movie, The Huge of Night time, was underrated, directs with such verve and magnificence that this can doubtless get a serious launch and switch into a brand new favorite for a lot of, with the premiere completely bringing the home down right here at SXSW.
But, as a lot because the film advantages from McConaughey’s star-power, it doesn’t essentially depend on it both. Because the film goes on, the precise lead is revealed in Angelina LookingGlass’s Kateri. The connection with Amziah is touching, along with her having fortunately lived with him and his spouse as a foster baby earlier than being taken away by the state after his spouse died, with them deeming a single father unfit to care for a kid. Now that she’s again in his life as a younger, succesful grownup, Amziah wastes no time coaching her to take over his honey enterprise, which seems to be much more cutthroat than you’d anticipate.
The film additionally does a fantastic job depicting the sense of neighborhood, with the agricultural Oklahoma setting a joyous assortment of individuals dwelling their lives the most effective they’ll. They instantly welcome Kateri into her ranks, along with her shortly rising hooked up to the rogue’s gallery of misfits who work for Amziah. There’s Scott Shepard and Jake Horowitz as Amziah’s ex-con friends, who Kateri finds to be surprisingly dependable in a pinch, in addition to Rob Morgan as his finest pal, the city’s lawyer, who supplies all concerned free authorized recommendation, and is a central a part of Amziah’s band. Tony Revolori has one of many film’s most memorable sequences early on, the place, in an incredibly bloody second, we be taught why ponytails and honey-making machines don’t combine. The nice Kurt Russell additionally enters the fray in a while because the movie’s villain, an affable native businessman whose strategies contradict Amziah’s community-first precept and want to assist all these round him.
In its second hour, the movie will get surprisingly darkish, with LookingGlass’s Kateri revealed to have a tougher edge to her than initially thought, along with her angelic smile camouflaging the truth that, as somebody who is aware of firsthand how brutal the world is, she isn’t afraid to battle soiled.
All of this helps make The Rivals of Amziah King one of the vital unpredictable and wildly entertaining movies I’ve seen shortly. Hopefully, somebody snatches it up, because it’s a fantastic piece of labor and will rank amongst McConaughey’s best-ever roles.
