Since the cult-movie It Follows released in 2014 (we are awaiting for the upcoming sequel with enormous trepidation) Maika Monroe has become one of the most effective and prolific “Scream Queens” of our times. While waiting to see if she is going to expand her repertoire working on more various genres, the Californian artist has made the most of her acting style and almost sullen stage presence by choosing roles that suit her perfectly. This is also true of Maxime Giroux‘s hard-hitting crime-thriller In Cold Light. In the film Monroe plays Ava, a drug dealer and ex-addict just out of prison who immediately finds herself in trouble when her twin brother is murdered before her eyes, and she becomes the prime suspect in the killing.
Even if In Cold Light is clearly a crime-thriller, the first part of the movie works better as a family drama and a character study. The protagonist, with her regrets and the swollen rage against who betrayed her is tangible, is a precise and strong psychology. Her complex relationship with a father who can’t forgive her for her sins is poignant. This side of the screenplay works perfectly in order to make the crime plot stronger and more emotionally captivating. When Ava decides to solve the situation and save the survivors, you can feel that her decision is rooted in pain, regret but also deep love.
Perhaps it is not the most original development in this kind of genre movies, but nonetheless it works really well, also because the slow, fluent rhythm of the editing allows the images to convey the right sense of predestination that the whole story requires. Once the proper action starts – with an assassination scene that is absolutely shocking and remarkable for its inner realism – In Cold Light doesn’t let the audience escape from its vortex of cinematic tension, until a final showdown that is surprising and utterly logical. There is no redemption in this kind of criminal underworld, only the chance to do the best that you can for the people you love. And of course pay the price for it.
Set in a frightening rural America always on the verge to unleash violence, the movie directed by Maxime Giroux is a calibrated, tension-filled genre film made by making the most of its desperate minimalism. Maika Monroe gives us one of her best performances, showing a range of emotions that makes us believe she could try other kinds of movies and conquequently ‘escape’ from her horror/thriller career. We hope to see her soon in some psychological drama that doesn’t necessarily involve blood, death or thrill. In the cast there are also two Oscar winners: a mighty Troy Kotsur in the role of Ava’s estranged father and Helen Hunt in a valuable cameo.
In Cold Light demonstrates that American independent cinema is still capable of finding something powerful to say using the genre. Maxime Giroux uses the solid screenplay by Patrick Whistler in order to produce a good crime-movie, and in doing this is capable of developing a personal and entertaining take on the genre itself. His feature film is in fact highly effective, both visually and most important emotionally.
Even if at the beginning you don’t participate in the characters’ struggles because they don’t show any kind of compassion towards each other, in the end their narrative arc is so well developed that you feel for Ava and her father. That is the most you can ask after experiencing a movie that keeps you focused for its entire length. Presentend in the Spotlight Narrative competition, In Cold Light is without a doubt one of the best films seen at this edition of the Tribeca Festival.
Rate: B+
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