Mass Movie Review

“Mass” was written and directed by actor Fran Kranz, who you’ve seen in such films as “Training Day,” “Cabin in the Woods,” and “The Village.” Actually, this is his writing and directorial debut. Still, with all the acting credits listed next to his name, I wasn’t too worried about whether or not he’d be a good storyteller. And what do you know, I wasn’t disappointed. You won’t be either.

When the movie opens, a church employee sets up a room for a meeting between two couples. They are Jay and Gail (Isaacs and Plimpton) and Richard and Linda (Birney and Dowd). At first, you are a bit confused as to what they’re meeting for, but you eventually catch on, especially with the many emotions flying around the room based on only a few words spoken.

Both couples are somewhat nervous, and for good reason. When the audience is let in on precisely what’s is going on with these four individuals, the movie gathers steam and never lets up. The reason for that isn’t just the well-written script, but the incredibly effective and passionate acting. I’ve never seen Jason Isaacs (“Harry Potter,” “A Cure for Wellness”) so layered. When the conversation becomes too heavy for him, he lets out a burst of grief and sorrow that’s very convincing.

Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Hereditary”) is the best she has ever been, which is hard to say as she’s always quite accomplished in her work. And I must add that it’s good to see Martha Plimpton (“The Mosquito Coast,” “The Good Wife”) play such an authentic role. Every word she utters makes the story more convincing and believable. Her very presence makes the entire movie feel as if you’re sitting at the table with the couples, judging everything they say as if you know them and have a say in what’s going on.

About thirty minutes in, they all start to discuss their children. The ones mentioned most are their sons. You realize that Kranz has been building up the tension purposefully and appreciate it. These four people know one another because Richard and Linda’s son killed Jay and Gail’s son in a ruthless, cold-blooded school shooting.

Gail and Linda go head-to-head with Gail tediously interrogating Linda. She’s trying to understand why Linda and Richard didn’t get their son the help he needed long before he went as far as to kill people. She can’t fathom why he was allowed to play the violent games he played. He also vocalized that he wanted to see certain people dead without someone noticing and doing something about it. This angers her greatly. Why wasn’t more help offered to him sooner?

Jay and Linda aren’t there to sue or gain in any way; they simply want answers as to why this terrible tragedy was allowed to happen. Couldn’t this killer’s parents have seen that there was something wrong? Why did they ignore sure signs they had to have seen? It’s exposed that he was put into a program, but when that didn’t work, shouldn’t they have tried again, somewhere… anywhere?

There’s a point to hearing the pain and loss Jay and Gail are feeling, but Linda and Richard do their best to defend themselves, as well. They try and get the devastated parents of the dead to understand what they are going through. It’s so easy to blame them, isn’t it? They’re the parents of the male who had the injured mind. He took the lives of the innocent without thinking about what their loved ones will deal with. Surely his parents are the cause?

But Linda and Richard also lost a child. The situation for them has been horrific. Because of the hate towards them for what their son did, they couldn’t get him buried by churches that shouldn’t be sitting in judgment. As a mother, Linda wants Gail to know that she did her best and apologizes for having… raised a murderer. That line was delivered impeccably, Dowd making sure it was highly shocking for you to hear her say. But even those heavy words don’t crack Gail’s façade.

You may think that you wouldn’t like this film very much, but you will. Yes. It’s four people sitting in one room, hashing out whether a killer should have been born or not. But listening to the dialogue is all that’s needed. Jay tells Linda and Richard about the trail of blood his dying child left behind for people to see as he attempted to live.

His words describe the situation remarkably well, so much so that you don’t need to see anything play out. Why? You can see it in your mind perfectly fine. The question is, can these people move on? Can they find forgiveness and release the pain they’ve held onto now that they’ve expressed themselves?