I wish that "Mass" could have ended about two minutes before it actually did, because the film is so good up until that point, and I completely forgot it was coming from a first time filmmaker, Fran Kranz. That ending is a perfunctory bit of smarm that was probably meant to help soften the preceding 108 minutes of emotional devastation, and ends up just feeling tone deaf. And it is the only issue I have with what is otherwise a very powerful and well-executed film.
"Mass" has a very simple premise. Two sets of parents, Richard (Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd), and Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton), meet at a church together to talk about a tragedy that involved both of their teenage sons. The vast majority of the film is simply four very good actors in one room, having a fraught conversation. This feels like a stage play converted to film form, even though it's not. The script is easily the best thing that "Mass" has going for it, along with the excellent performances of the four leads. It's exactly the kind of showy, cathartic, soul-bearing piece of melodrama that some audiences will dismiss as contrived, and others will appreciate for tackling such difficult and overwhelming emotions. I fall into the latter camp. Sure, we all know that getting these four particular characters into a room together is incredibly unlikely, but the writing is smart about it and the characters are very intelligent and self-aware. They interrogate themselves and their own motives as much as they interrogate each other. There are also constant references to legal matters, the media, the public response, and other factors that have influenced their decisions, ensuring that nothing feels like it's taking place in a vacuum.
It's fascinating to take in the performances. All four of the parents are in pain, but some keep that pain closer to the surface than others, and take longer to access and address it. Reed Birney is probably my favorite here, because there is so much going on with his character under the surface. He's so calm as to appear casual, and rattles off responses that he's clearly repeated many times. He's not unfeeling, but the distance he maintains from his emotions has become a defense mechanism. And he's much further along in processing his grief from the tragedy than some of the others, who are still grappling with it more immediately. Ann Dowd is getting plenty of attention, and it's well deserved. She has the ability to evoke empathy like few other performers, and delivers some incredibly vulnerable, harrowing moments. Part of what makes the film so affecting is that it's clear that all four of these characters are good, honest, caring people who don't deserve what's happened to them.
I hesitate to go into too much detail about the plot, because the actual relationship between all the parties involved isn't revealed until well into the film. We actually start with a gently comedic introductory sequence with a pair of church employees who prep the room for the meeting. I've seen a variety of reactions to this sequence, but I like that it's there to help ease the audience into the heavier material and prepare them for the tone of the ensuing conversation. There's also a social worker, Kendra (Michelle N. Carter), who appears briefly to lay out expectations. These measures help to ground "Mass" in the real world, and to quickly nix any possibility of the more conventional types of revenge or instant-fix narratives.
"Mass" strikes me as a movie that is trying to act as a counterbalance to all the films about violence and tragedy by actually having people talk and try to deal with the violence and the tragedy. We never see the terrible events that took place or anyone even directly involved, but the impact on their community is clear. I appreciate that it's also not an outwardly political film, avoiding any stumping for potential corrective actions, but simply acknowledging the enormity and the horror of the situation. It's not an easy one to sit through, for obvious reasons, but I found it rewarding and ultimately satisfying. Fran Kranz clearly still has a ways to go as a director, but I am very interested to see what else he has in store.
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