Frank (Laurence Fuller), is a typical corporate drone. Think Edward Norton at the beginning of Fight Club; short and pale, with a permanent sweaty pallor and a hollow-eyed gaze. His already depressing life gets even worse when he discovers his girlfriend is sleeping with his boss.
In the middle of wallowing, Frank gets a call from his old friend Jack (Micah Parry). Tall, laid-back and handsome, Jack is Frank’s opposite in every way, and is determined to show his friend a good time. This turns out to mean hooking Frank up with a prostitute named Ruby (Rosalie McIntire). Unfortunately their coitus is interrupted by a masked murderer. Frank wakes up naked, with Ruby’s corpse in his trunk.
The rest of the film progresses as a bizarre Californian road trip, with Jack and Frank travelling the state, heading for a place that they can bury the body.
Missing the Mark
Jon Cvack clearly has grand, Coen-esque intentions for Road to the Well. The scenes are long, deliberately paced, and full of cynical, profanity-laden speeches. The dialogue does sound like something actual human beings would say, which isn’t something to be sniffed at, especially for a first time writer/director. But when the scenes are so focused on the dialogue and it isn’t anything special, the film just becomes a bit boring. To my ears, there wasn’t one notable or quotable line.
The plot is similarly average. Though the two men have a corpse in the trunk of their car, until the film’s final act, there isn’t a semblance of threat. In the lengthy middle portion, there doesn’t seem to be any danger at all that Jack and Frank will be caught. Let me say this again – there is a corpse in the back of their car! There’s literally more tension around the same situation in 2006 comedy/drama Little Miss Sunshine. It’s a huge missed opportunity for Cvack to add some excitement to a film that sorely needs it.
The thing I found particularly galling about Road to the Well was its attitude towards women. The most egregious example of this was the treatment of Ruby, the prostitute who gets murdered and sets the action in motion. She goes from being a prize; an opportunity for beta-male Frank to reclaim his manhood, to a glorified prop. The treatment of her death is so callous and retrograde, it made it really hard to warm to either of the lead male characters. And that regressive treatment of women extends throughout the film. Every female character (and there aren’t even that many), is either a betrayer or a victim. Nothing more.
Plus Points
There are a couple of things Road to the Well does admirably. There are unanimously good performances, and one great one, which I’ll talk about later. Laurence Fuller and Micah Parry lead the film with confidence. Fuller does the whole, ‘beaten-down office drone’ shtick with a genuine aura of exasperation. As Frank is working out just what he is capable of, Fuller imbues him with an air of inscrutability which keeps you guessing. Though Jack is Frank’s opposite, he is also played with an intriguing edge. Micah Parry adds a tinge of malevolence to what on the surface seems a carefree character. They aren’t helped by the uninspired dialogue, but it’s still interesting to watch the relationship between the two develop.
Road to the Well’s most consistently impressive element is the cinematography. And the most impressive thing about it is that this is cinematographer Tim Davis’s first feature film! He shoots the varied landscapes of California, from the suburbs to the vast forests, with an accomplished eye. Out of the film’s various novice cast and crew, it’s Davis who seems the most destined for a bright future.
Where It All Comes Together
Largely, the film fails at its grand ambitions. It isn’t as gripping, atmospheric or smart as it sets out to be. But there is one scene, where, for a few moments, everything comes together successfully.
It’s near the end of the film, and Jack and Frank have found somewhere to bury the corpse. Just as they think they’re home and dry, Dale (Marshall R. Teague), an aging military man, pops out of the darkness. He’s a stern, sinister presence, but when he invites them into his home for dinner, Jack and Frank don’t have any option but to accept. I won’t ruin what happens next, but it’s an affecting, atmospheric sequence.
Primarily the scene works so well thanks to an exquisite performance from Teague. Though you probably won’t be able to place him, he’s by far the most experienced member of the cast, having over 100 IMDB credits, mainly in TV series and TV movies. He plays Dale as a lonely, tired man, made bitter by years of isolation, and his best years being far in the rear-view mirror. He’s the only character the film creates who you can imagine having a life before the opening credits rolled.
The other reason the scene works so well, is that it’s the only time in the movie when you don’t know what’s going to happen. When his motives are finally revealed, it’s a genuine shock. If the rest of the film was as good as that ten minutes, then it would have been worthy of classic debut status. Alas, it was not to be.
In Closing
Overall, Road to the Well is disappointing, though far from a disaster. All the actors do good work, with one being particularly memorable. The photography captures the captivating Californian country with stylish aplomb. There are no overtly embarrassing moments; and whilst the plot isn’t exactly riveting, it’s always coherent, which is far from a given in many debut movies.
But it falls way flat of Cvack’s grand ambitions. There’s no spark to the dialogue, little sense of threat to propel the narrative forward, and the dark humour isn’t ever particularly funny. Road to the Well isn’t a chore to wade through. It’s just sort of…there.
Did you enjoy Road to the Well? Did you find it funny?
Road to the Well was released in the US on June 4, 2016. No international release dates are yet planned.
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