A Simple Curve (2005)

Number Rolled: 16

Movie Name/Year: A Simple Curve (2005)

Genre: Drama

Length: 91 minutes

Rating: NR

Director: Aubrey Nealon

Writer: Aubrey Nealon

Actors: Kris Lemche, Michael Hogan, Matt Craven, Pascale Hutton, Sarah Lind, Kett Turton, Michael Robinson, Petra Hartley, Hank Hastings, Ben Cotton, Suzinn Robinson, Waneta Storms

Twenty-seven year old Caleb runs a wood shop, with his father Jim, in the mountains. The two seem to be good friends instead of father and son. When a man from Jims past, Matthew, comes back to visit, Caleb begins to get close to him. Though their business is failing, his fathers’ old friend agrees to hire them for a big job. All the while, Caleb seems to be growing further and further away from the world he’s known.

This is not the kind of movie I generally enjoy. I’m not really one for the straight-forward drama. I like my dramas to have a secondary genre; whether it’s comedy or horror doesn’t matter. Complete dramas just tend to bore the life out of me. For that exact reason, there aren’t many on my instant queue. This movie pleasantly surprised me.

I added this to my queue because I like Kris Lemche. He’s not the most popular or celebrated actor out there, but I love him none-the-less. I believe he’s strong at the parts he portrays and it was good to see him as a serious character in a serious movie for once. This is the first movie of his, that I’ve seen, that fits that description and he killed it (in a good way). Michael Hogan and Matt Craven had an interesting dynamic, but I’m not sure it really hit the level that the storyline called for. Each of their interactions with Lemche was amazing, but I think the chemistry between Hogan and Craven alone needed a bit more life than they delivered.

The movie doesn’t quite get to main plot point until you’re well into it. It’s always just underneath whatever’s going on at the moment, but it’s subtle, until it’s not. There weren’t a lot of risks in the story, but the ones they took were very interesting.

A Simple Curve was definitely flawed, but for as flawed as it was, I still loved it. I had to score it as high as I did, because I managed to love it without actually liking the genre. I don’t care what anyone says, that’s impressive.

Overall Opinion – 4/5