''A Single Shot'' is a 2013 American
crime thriller
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
film directed by
David M. Rosenthal and written by
Matthew F. Jones
Matthew F. Jones is an American novelist and screenwriter. Jones grew up in rural upstate New York and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. His novels have been translated into various foreign languages and several times have been nam ...
, based on his own novel of the same name. It stars
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
,
William H. Macy
William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...
,
Ted Levine
Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Buffalo Bill (character), Buffalo Bill in the film ''The Silence of the Lambs (film), The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottle ...
,
Kelly Reilly
Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series '' The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama '' Above Suspicion'' (2009– ...
and
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor.
Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...
.
Plot
John Moon's wife recently took their son and left. Before John's father died, he was unable to pay the mortgage on the farm, and it was sold. John is depressed and an emotional wreck. He lives in poverty in rural West Virginia, feeding himself by
hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
deer. While illegally stalking a deer with a shotgun on
Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
land, he accidentally shoots and kills a young woman. He then finds a box containing $100,000 in the abandoned van where she was hiding. He hides the woman's body in a shipping container.
During the following days, he attempts to reconcile with his wife. He contacts a local attorney to try to negotiate for his wife and son's return home and leaves the attorney several hundred dollars, drawing the attorneys' attention. John visits his son at his wife's apartment and interrupts the babysitter having sex with a recently released convict who has returned home. As he leaves he is threatened by a stranger who resents his glance.
John returns to his trailer and finds that someone has trashed it, apparently looking for the money. The dead girl's body is on his bed with a note. His wife shows up and wants to come inside and get her clothing, but John refuses. John visits the attorney and threatens him with a pistol, trying to force him to reveal what he knows. All he learns is that his wife was concerned about where John got the money and wants to talk to him.
Later, while he is in his trailer, someone shoots and kills his dog. In another incident a rock wrapped in a note threatening his family is thrown through the trailer window. John suspects the ex-con is responsible for these events. He enters the ex-con's motel room and is interrupted by the ex-con's return. He hides in the louvered closet. The stranger from outside the diner arrives at the hotel room and asks the ex-con if he's "gotten the money back". The ex-con tells him that the woman who had the money has died and the stranger is furious. John sees him slit the ex-con's throat. The ex-con falls into the closet and sees John, but is unable to talk before he dies. John manages to avoid detection and goes home.
A friendly local girl brings John something to eat, and while they are eating outside, the radio in the trailer starts playing loudly. John goes inside to investigate, carrying a pistol. He hears the girl scream outside, and returns to find her held captive by the stranger. John is forced to discard his pistol and knife. The stranger asks John where the money is. John says he buried it nearby. The stranger tells him to go get it, but first cuts off John's right index finger and thumb, to be sure he can't use a weapon. John goes to his truck and gets a scoped rifle. Despite his wounds, he successfully kills the stranger. He takes the girl to town and returns to the trailer and a shed outside, which contains a freezer in which he has hidden the dead woman's body. He drags her body up the hill and digs a hole to bury her. Weakened by loss of blood, he's unable to get out of the hole. He pulls the girl′s body into the hole with him and looks up to see a deer looking down at him from the edge of the hole.
Cast
*
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
as John Moon
[
* ]Jeffrey Wright
Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Belize in the Broadway production of ''Angels in America'', for which he would win a Tony Award, and its HBO miniseries adaptation, for which he would ...
as Simon[
* ]Kelly Reilly
Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series '' The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama '' Above Suspicion'' (2009– ...
as Jess[
* ]Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor.
Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), C ...
as Waylon[
* Joe Anderson as Obadiah]
* Ophelia Lovibond
Ophelia Lucy Lovibond (born 19 February 1986) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Carina in the film ''Guardians of the Galaxy,'' Izzy Gould in the BBC's ''W1A'', Joyce Prigger in HBO's ''Minx'', and Kitty Winter in CBS's ''Ele ...
as Abbie
* Ted Levine
Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Buffalo Bill (character), Buffalo Bill in the film ''The Silence of the Lambs (film), The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottle ...
as Cecile
* William H. Macy
William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...
as Pitt[
* ]Amy Sloan
Amy Kathleen Sloan is a Canadian-American actress. She was born in Gladstone, Manitoba, raised in Whitehorse, Yukon and graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada
The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, french: École nationale d ...
as Carla
* William Earl Brown as Puffy
* Heather Lind
Heather Lind (born March 22, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Anna Strong in the AMC series '' Turn: Washington's Spies''. She is the twin sister of actress Christina Bennett Lind. as Mincy
* Christie Burke
Christie Burke (born October 20, 1989) is a Canadian actress known for her portrayal of Renesmee Cullen in '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2''. The actor graduated from New Westminster Secondary School in 2007.
In 2023, Burke serve ...
as Ingrid
* Jenica Bergere as Colette
* Lana Giacose as Angela
Production
Filming began in February 2012 in Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. The film was released on September 20, 2013, and distributed in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
by Tribeca Film.
Reception
''A Single Shot'' received mixed reviews from critics. It has approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus states, "It has a bleak sense of atmosphere and a terrific performance by Sam Rockwell, but ''A Single Shot'' is undercut by its predictable story and slow pace." The film also has a score of 53 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Soundtrack
The music for ''A Single Shot'' was written by Icelandic-born composer Atli Örvarsson
Atli Örvarsson (; born 7 July 1970) is an Icelandic film score composer. Atli's credits include composing and orchestrating music for some of Hollywood's biggest projects, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, ''Angels & Demons'', ''T ...
whose music is strongly rooted in 20th century modernism. The score was recorded with the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The soundtrack has been released digitally and on CD by MovieScore Media / Kronos Records. One of the special things about the soundtrack is that the shorter cues have been organized into movements, thus creating a program that sounds very much like a concert piece.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Single Shot, A
2013 films
2013 crime thriller films
2013 psychological thriller films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
American crime thriller films
Bron Studios films
Films based on American novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films directed by David M. Rosenthal
Films scored by Atli Örvarsson
Films shot in British Columbia