Directed By Charlie McDowell

Starring – Jason Segal, Lily Collins, Jesse Plemons

The Plot – A man (Segal) breaks into a tech billionaire’s empty vacation home, but things go sideways when the arrogant mogul (Plemons) and his wife (Collins) arrive for a last-minute getaway.

Rated R for adult language throughout and some violence

Windfall | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

POSITIVES

Creativity is littered everywhere throughout a movie that puts the Hitchcock in Hitchcockian, especially in the air of the vintage direction from McDowell and orchestral accompaniment of Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans impeccably rich and tonally defining score, which feels practically lifted from an action thriller during the golden age of Hollywood cinema. This is followed with an actual credits sequence that is an unfortunate rarity anymore for contemporary films, but one here that perfectly establishes an isolation factor and atmospheric uneasiness of the one stage setting that the entirety of our film resides in. Being that this is obviously a Covid-19 production, with minimal cast and settings, it feeds in perfectly to the stripped-down simplicity of the movie’s conflict and forces us to deal with the rising tensions and crumbling dynamics between characters that stirs these combustible elements in a simmering pot of discontent that grows stronger with each passing scene. Speaking of which, I found the script from Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) to mostly be satisfactory, albeit with a few nagging bugs of unfulfilling emphasis, which I will get to later. In tone, it’s a film that could easily be considered straining for elements that don’t typically work together in other films, but here submerge with a home invasion narrative that highlights the awkwardness and spontaneity of such uncalculated risks. The subtleties in humor reside without fully overtaking the tension of the engagement, and the periodic twists of an evolving estimate on permanent damage constantly shuts the window of opportunity for a happy ending on all accounts of those considered. For exposition, I love that Walker plants these unique visuals of temporary focus, which upon introduction feel like throwaway instances to pad the screen time, but in reality conjure up more of the aforementioned ingredients, which will eventually move back into focus at sometime later in the film. This not only forces audiences to invest every second of themselves to the interactions of the characters, but also speaks volumes about the themes of the screenplay, in which the actions of the characters elicit a greater reaction of fate and karma playing its most devious of hands on these morally ambiguous figures. The strongest sentiments of this limited ensemble, at least in performance is easily Plemons, who once more captivates with a seething, unrelenting turn as a sociological antagonist, but one that couldn’t be more distant from the maniacal spin he supplanted to “Breaking Bad”. Here, Plemons is instead the manifestation of upper class greed, and one whose combination of sniveling demeanor and prodding emphasis conjures a personality that easily illustrates the emotional and physical disconnect from the air of these coupling protagonists, with Plemons’ three-dimensional versatility supplanting another scene-stealing turn in methods of manipulation.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, there’s plenty that keeps this film from reaching exceptional status, especially in the air of the creative generational direction it borrows so candidly from. First and foremost, the characterization couldn’t be flatter, with one-dimensional types being approached from surface level submersion, which often makes it difficult to find a side to invest in once the urgency of the conflict takes fold. This is especially a problem with a Hitchcock descendent, with such bold, occasionally boisterous characters solidifying an investing intrigue in their defining plights. Because we never get to truly know and interpret these characters beyond their respective roles in the conflict, we never see them as living, breathing entities, and it leaves the script with repeated offenses of undercutting the tension and dramatic flare it takes far too much time in earning. This leads to my second problem, which is the stumbling synergy of the pacing never finding a comfortable precedent in such a limited allowance of backstory and exposition. Being that this is barely an 87 minute film, you would think the story would constantly keep moving, but it’s actually the opposite, with a sluggish, sedated unraveling directly contradicting the circumstances of the situation, and giving us a story that’s difficult for attention-challenged audiences to fully embrace, especially with a limitation in violence and a rarity in the balance of power, which McDowell rarely if ever challenges on a prolonged emphasis. This takes shape all the while the script is trying to unload some opportunity for heavy social commentary, and instead feeling like two characters of economical opposites arguing online, due to the on-the-nose nature of the dialogue feeling so obvious that each character involved might as well have pins that say “Upper class snob” and “Lower class struggler” pinned to each of them. Finally, the ending, while a credible determining choice for the conclusive nature of the direction, isn’t exactly one that elicits with it an overwhelming sense of satisfaction in such an overall challenging of audience patience. There’s certainly credit in the undebatable finality that its actions boldly reach for, but a combination of stacking unfulfilled arc’s (Who runs the camera?) and clumsily choreographed sequencing leads to an underwhelming impact that summarizes the script’s simplicity for all of the wrong reasons, solidifying a stumbling climax that directly removes the wind from such a momentous fall.

OVERALL
“Windfall” doesn’t quite reach the elevation needed to fully capitalize on the air of its Hitchockian inspiration, but it does attain with it a stylish splendor of neo-noir scenery and stimulating cinematography that only further compliments its claustrophobic captivity in housing so many combustible elements of character dynamic under one roof. With more of a satisfying pay-off, the film could’ve been something generationally transcendent, but as it stands the diminishing returns keep its execution firmly grounded, with a gifted ensemble (Mostly Plemons) left to carry the load.

My Grade: 6/10 or C