Mike
Kendall sounds like a nice, progressive fellow. He was adopted by an African
American family and now his best friend is his brother-in-law. He could almost
be a character in a Norman Lear sitcom, if he weren’t such a boozy,
self-sabotaging low life. However, he just might earn himself a bit of
redemption if he can bring the murderers of a prostitute to justice in Eshom
& Ian Nelms’ Small Town Crimes (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Kendall
longs to return to the police force, but that just isn’t happening after he helplessly
watched his partner get gunned down while in a drunken state. Waking up from
his nightly bender on the outskirts of town, Kendall discovers the badly beaten
body of a young girl. He racers her to the hospital, but she will not make it.
For some reason, Kendall cannot leave things as they are. He starts his own independent
investigation, even bluffing the victim’s well-heeled grandfather to retain his
services as a private investigator (not that he’s licensed, mind you).
Yet,
much to the exasperation of the real cops working the case, Kendall starts
developing some genuine leads. In fact, he gets close enough to prompt the
killers to target his sister Kelly Banks, and her good-natured husband Teddy.
Kendall has them convinced he has a legit temp job, which is sort of true, but
he is also kidding himself regarding his general crime-fighting fitness.
STC is a sly noir in
the Jim Thompson tradition, featuring an absolutely terrific performance from
John Hawkes. Just when you think he has finally bottomed out, he finds a way to
sink even lower. Just looking at his haggard, drawn face gives you the urge to
pop an aspirin with some hair-of-the-dog.
Hawkes
owns this film, but he has some worthy support from a colorful cast of
characters, including the eternally steely Robert Forster at the peak of his
steeliness, as the sharp-shooting estranged grandpa, Steve Yendel. Hawkes and
Anthony Anderson’s Teddy Banks also play off each other quite amiably, while
executive producer Octavia Spencer is believably exasperated but still
completely human and compassionate as his long-suffering sister Kelly. Plus,
Clifton Collins Jr. is the total wildcard, who constantly cranks up the energy
and attitude as the victim’s eccentrically righteous pimp, “Mood.”
The
Nelms Brothers have a few prior indie films to their credit, but STC deserves to be their breakout. We’d
also be happy to see it spawn a bleary-eyed Mike Kendall franchise. He might
actually be the most dissolute movie detective since who knows when, but that
is all part of his charm. Enthusiastically recommended, Small Town Crime opens this Friday (1/19) in New York, at the
Village East.
