Unemployed American oil-rig roughneck Bill Baker (Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseille, France to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin), imprisoned for a murder of her roommate she claims she did not commit. Allison seizes on a new tip that could exonerate her and presses Bill to engage her legal team. But Bill, eager to prove his worth and regain his daughter's trust, takes matters into his own hands. He is quickly stymied by language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system until he meets French actress Virginie (Camille Cottin), mother to eight-year-old Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Together, these unlikely allies embark on a journey of discovery, truth, love and liberation.
Others to round out the cast are Deanna Dunagan as Sharon, Idir Azougli as Akim, Anne Le Ny as Leparq, Moussa Maaskri as Dirosa, Isabelle Tanakil as Isabelle, Naidra Ayadi as Nedjma, Pierre Placentino as Max and William Nadylam as Patrick.
This was artfully directed by Tom McCarthy ("The Station Agent" '03, "The Visitor" '07, "Win Win" '11, "The Cobbler" '14, "Spotlight" '15, "Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made" '20) plus TV. Considering that this filmmaker has been directing films for 18 years, his resume doesn't represent a plethora of films, however what he has created certainly is of high artistic quality. He's been acting for years and that assuredly has given him an edge of what it's like to walk in similar shoes of actors. His ability to showcase his actors in getting them to extract the perfect emotion in such subtle ways is incredible. It was creatively written by McCarthy, Marcus Hinchey, Thomas Bidegain and Noe Debre. Although there were four writers attached to this project whereas less would've more advantageous, it worked primarily for the reason that McCarthy is a talented writer, and both Bidegain and Debre are French writers that have collaborated on many films. This made the story that much more realistic. All the writers are seasoned and therefore know their way around a script. This was inspired by the Amanda Knox situation back a number of years ago, but, for all intense and purposes, is undoubtedly fiction. This was a riveting story, however if I were to mention anything correctional about it, it would be that it took a bit of time for the story to progress, but once it did, it simply soared. It was cohesive, coherent and concise--all the good ingredients for a gritty, artistic film.
If message films are your thing, you'll love this. definitely, with the incredible directing and acting (Damon could be up for a possible Oscar nod), this film is worthy of viewing. It's a bit long-in-the-tooth, but the quality will more than compensate for anything else.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: R 159mins.
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