Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: JACKDAW [Fantastic Fest 2023 - Austin, Texas]
The context of a movie like "Jackdaw" is reflected in the aspect of perception. Jack is a man with a good heart but fouled of bad genetics that pre-disposes him to a certain kind of life. As with many noirs, there are villains who need something, someone who has stolen something from them and revenge that must be served on either side. Jack seems like a person who just wants to live his life. Having gotten out of the British Army, he is a person who wants quiet but can't seem to get it particularly through his own fault. He has a special needs brother that depends on him. However at the inset we know that he is having to go on the wrong side of the law to make ends meet. Some of the more interesting cinematography occurs during these times. A chase across the windfields on the ocean is dynamic but the energy, despite its best efforts, is not sustained for any length of time. People are trying to kill him and he wants to know why. All signs point to Silas, a tweaked out mix of the Kurge and Alex's bastard twin from "A Clockwork Orange".The role is played with obvious bravado and the stark industrial landscape this takes place in is reminscent also of "Escape From New York".
Everyone is out for themselves but see their own suffering in one another. Jack has a sweetheart that he walked away from (not that she isn't an opportunist herself) but every step he makes, even though she is moving towards him, he unwittingly moves away. The movie is based on the precipice that Jack has to return something to get something else that was stolen from him. He supposedly is good with bikes and spends most of the movie on a motorbike but beyond that one was bought for him as a kid, there is not much added to that equation in terms of explanation. There is also a Mad Max type of motion here (likely due to the industrial backdrop. While the story does move towards a specific idea of an ending which does make alot of sense, the comeuppance feels a little empty. Jack is a man who deserves happiness but for all his virtues, the movie paints the irony that he maybe is not truly a man since at times he is indecisive, doesn't live up to other's expectations and makes wrong choices...yet this makes him human.This character works because he is fallible, "Jackdaw" is a movie of darkness and family, in and of itself. It tries to create twists and turns,some of which work, and others which feel a bit derative. But the motley landscape it travels through is usually not what it seems. While there might be a context of "Happily Ever After", the next sunset is seen right over the next hill. B-
By Tim Wassberg
