I recently watched 'Steel City" and was quite luke warm about it but was curious to see the writer/director's next film. I had also recently watched an interview with him and he seemed very passionate about bringing ideas that were important to him to the big screen.As mentioned in my title, the performances were very impressive, especially from the lead, great subtlety and nuance to him. The cinematography was a big improvement from his last film, nicely lit, some nice camera moves.The big let down was the script. The film lacked any stakes. It was made clear in the first scene that his wife doesn't want him back home if he gets out of prison, and that his wife was taking sole custody of their daughter if he gets parole. So the two people he really cares about are out of his life, he has nothing left to lose. I don't understand why the writer didn't set up the fact that if he BREAKS parole he will lose his family, its all he cares about, so when he kills a man to save a woman being raped....now he's got something at stake, and the film be about him trying to prove his innocence to save his family, because we learn that the rapist shot him first.The other problem is the fact that after the protagonist kills the rapist the film runs out of steam, it severely de-escalates , it was a great plot point putting the protagonist in that position, but the writer didn't have anywhere to go beyond that event. Unfortunately, for me the film really drags all the way to the end after that.A few things stuck out to as inorganic/forced in to serve the plot. When the stripper starts unloading her grief to the protagonist in the hallway of the hotel. When the protagonist and the stripper just walk out of the hospital even though they're potential suspects in a homicide, now I'm not versed in the law but to me it felt odd and a bit unbelievable, wouldn't there be at least hospital security watching him and keeping him in the hospital while the case is under investigation?...even if it is a "..small town" couldn't a hospital afford to employ 1 or 2 security guards?Having this be a sort of crime thriller there is little, if no tension. The police are never really close on the protagonists trail and his freedom is never really threatened. As I said the performances kept me watching but unfortunately not the story.

Joint Body follows a recently paroled man with nothing to fall back as he tries to stay on the straight and narrow. It's a plot that has been used countless times, but it has produced some good films if done well. The acting is done very well, the directing is very good, and the writer wants to make the film more character driven than conflict driven. A lot of newer films and series have done this recently and it had led to some great cinema. Unfortunately, while joint body does touch on many things, it never really follows through enough with anything. We meet the main character Nick's brother and his wife and touch on a little of their history, his ex wife and his daughter whom he has no contact with, but it only briefly touches on these things. While we learn of a few stories and see the basics of their relationships, nothing ever really drives home into why these characters came to be who they are or what makes them tick. It's not like by the later part of the film you will feel like you understand the characters and can predict how they would react and feel to situations. For a film based on characters more than conflicts, this leaves it feeling a little light and empty. Instead of really focusing on one relationship and going into it, we pick up tiny bits of history with the secondary characters. There isn't a super strong ending that wraps everything up either. Open endings can be great, but it didn't leave much of what would be expected to follow, nor a feeling that the story would go on and on. By the end, it felt like we were still just in the middle of a story that didn't really go very far in any direction. If you are on Netflix and have seen almost everything like me it's something you can give a run through, but it won't wow you, evoke any strong emotions, or make you think very much.

Another one of those haunting, slow-paced indie films that really feels like it has something to say... until you realize it doesn't. The reason it's slow-paced is that it has nowhere to go, and it's just wasting time while it tries to figure itself out. And it fails.Really good performances, everyone looks right and does an excellent job with almost no script to work from. It goes to show you how far some haunting music and good performances will take you.Fading to black is not an ending, filmmakers. Leaving it up to the audience is not an ending, either.Not a bad movie... it looks good, and keeps you engaged... until it randomly ends. Really frustrating that the filmmakers would go through all this and not even bother to know how their story ends. It feels like they probably just ran out of money, and stopped whenever the film ran out.Overall, a waste. Another indie director that can't be bothered to make a whole movie.

This movie is severely underrated and unknown yet I have no idea why. Everything about it is absolutely fantastic. The acting is great and believable all around (hats off to Mark Pellegrino especially) and the plot is well-written and kept me wanting more until the very end.The only reason I'm not giving this a 10/10 is because of the rather odd ending that I couldn't make sense of. I don't think it takes away from the movie or would put anyone off from re-watching it though. Maybe you just have to leave it up to your own imagination as to what happens.I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Pellegrino's work, or just someone who enjoys a great underrated movie. With so many fast-paced movies out there, this one is bound to treat you to something a little different than usual.