Sweet Virginia (film)
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''Sweet Virginia'' is a 2017
neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
thriller film directed by
Jamie M. Dagg Jamie M. Dagg is a Canadian film director and writer, who won the 2016 Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature, presented to the year's best feature film directed by a first-time director, for his f ...
, written by Benjamin China and Paul China, and starring
Jon Bernthal Jonathan Edward Bernthal (; born September 20, 1976) is an American actor. Beginning his career in the early 2000s, he came to prominence for portraying Shane Walsh (The Walking Dead), Shane Walsh on the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror series ' ...
,
Christopher Abbott Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
,
Imogen Poots Imogen Gay Poots (born 3 June 1989) is an English actress and model. She played Tammy in the post-apocalyptic horror film '' 28 Weeks Later'' (2007), Linda Keith in the Jimi Hendrix biopic '' Jimi: All Is by My Side'' (2013), Debbie Raymond in ...
,
Rosemarie DeWitt Rosemarie Braddock DeWitt (born October 26, 1971) is an American actress. DeWitt played Emily Lehman in the Fox television series '' Standoff'' (2006–07), co-starring with her future husband Ron Livingston, as well as Charmaine Craine on ''Unit ...
,
Odessa Young Odessa Young (born 11 January 1998) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in the 2015 feature films ''Looking for Grace'' and '' The Daughter'', the latter of which earned her an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Sh ...
and
Jared Abrahamson Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film ''Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouver ...
. It was released on November 17, 2017, by
IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...
.


Plot

Tom, Lou, and Mitchell are playing poker at Lou's bar. A man enters and asks to be served. When Mitchell tells him to leave because the bar is closed, the man threatens him and angrily leaves. The man returns and shoots Lou, Mitchell, and Tom. The next morning Sam wakes up after dreaming about his former days as a bull rider. He starts his morning at the motel by reading about the shootings in the paper and then responding to a disturbance in room 128. Sam politely and shyly asks the tenant to quiet down, only to have the door shut in his face. Later that day, Tom's wife, Bernadette, goes on the porch during a gathering for her deceased husband and asks Sam if he can come by to no avail. Sam has trouble lifting his right arm and walks with a limp due to injuries suffered from bull riding. Bernadette, ignoring Sam's earlier wish, wakes Sam in the middle of the night for sex to which he obliges. They discuss whether Tom is in heaven or hell and Sam seems regretful of his relationship with Bernadette. Upon leaving the next morning, Bernadette picks up the picture Sam laid down. The photo is of a woman and a young girl. Lila meets the man who shot Mitchell, her husband, and asks why he killed Tom and Lou instead of only killing Mitchell as planned. Showing no remorse, he blames her for the circumstances because Mitchell didn't leave the bar as she said he would. The man then tells her she should be celebrating because Mitchell has been killed as she wanted. He asks about his payment, and Lila tells him she will have it by the end of the week after she meets with Mitchell's lawyer. Lila tells the man she wanted Mitchell dead because he'd been unfaithful. Upon visiting Mitchell's lawyer, Lila learns that Mitchell was bankrupt, had lied about his life-insurance policies, and was being sued by former business partners. The bank now owns her home and there is no money. Mitchell's killer later approaches Sam at the motel and introduces himself as Elwood. He extends his stay at the motel and begins giving Sam praise as a famous bull rider. He tells Sam that his father was a huge fan of Sam and would have loved to meet him but he's now deceased. Sam befriends Elwood, and they go to a local diner where Sam talks about his health and why he shakes. Sam seems puzzled when Elwood tells him about his mother's death and how his father was absent due to incarceration. Elwood says his father died in a prison riot in 1996 and shows a strong disdain for him. Elwood asks Sam if he has a girlfriend, and Sam admits he does. When Lila enters the diner after riding with Bernadette to get milkshakes, Sam calls her over to the table and introduces her to Elwood. Taken aback, she pretends not to know Elwood before quickly leaving. Later that night, on the way home from Bernadette's house, Lila is followed by Elwood but is able to evade him. After a phone call with his mother, Elwood becomes enraged and instigates a fight with two men. After calling Lila and leaving her a threatening voicemail, he violently beats the two men before leaving. Later that night, Lila receives the threatening voicemail and tries to run away from home, but is attacked by Elwood. He demands payment, and again she tells him she can get the money. Satisfied, he leaves and meets with Paul to enlist his services to do a job to which Paul agrees. Sam leaves Maggie's basketball game to spend the night with Bernadette. Once Sam has left her home, Elwood and Paul approach the house while she is in the bathtub. Hearing a noise, Bernadette goes to investigate and is chased by Paul while Elwood breaks into a wall safe. She stabs and kills Paul and is chased by Elwood. He subdues and nearly shoots Bernadette when he notices Sam's hat on the counter. Elwood takes the money from the safe and leaves. Upon returning to the motel, Sam finds a tenant complaining about the noise in room 128. Sam knocks on the door and begins fighting with the tenant. However, his condition prevents him from throwing a punch and he is then overpowered and left lying in the rain. Sam recovers enough to go to Bernadette's home where he learns about the break-in. Elwood, who was injured in the struggle with Bernadette, tries sneaking out the next morning but is stopped by Sam who merely wants to say goodbye. However, Sam notices that Elwood is bleeding and realizes he is the one who robbed Bernadette. Elwood chases Sam into an occupied motel room, shooting the tenant in the process. Elwood searches the room but finds that Sam has escaped through the bathroom window. Sam then runs to the motel office to grab his grandfather's gun and tells Elwood to stay until the police arrive. Elwood refuses claiming that they are "square", a reference to him letting Bernadette live. Elwood attempts to get in his car to flee, but Sam shoots and kills him. The police go through Elwood's belongings and find Lila's name and phone number. She is arrested and the final shot is of Bernadette cutting Sam's hair while he thinks about his riding accident.


Cast


Release and reception

The film premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
on April 21, 2017. On May 9, 2017,
IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on November 17, 2017, by IFC Films. For directing, Dagg was nominated for the
Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assistant ...
's
DGC Discovery Award DGC can refer to: Businesses and organizations * Darlton Gliding Club, Nottinghamshire, England * Daybreak Game Company, an American video game developer * Delhi Golf Club, Delhi, India * Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie, a German organizat ...
.Barry Hertz
"Directors Guild of Canada reveals long list for Discovery Award"
''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', September 5, 2017.


References


External links

* * {{rottentomatoes, sweet_virginia_2017 2017 films 2017 crime drama films 2017 crime thriller films 2017 psychological thriller films English-language Canadian films American crime drama films American crime thriller films Canadian crime drama films Canadian crime thriller films Films about death Films about grieving American neo-noir films Films set in Alaska 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films 2010s American films