 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Bloodline • Year: 2018 • Country: USA • Director: Henry Jacobson • Main cast: Seann William Scott, Mariela Garriga, Dale Dickey • Runtime: 95 minutes • Production company: Divide/Conquer, Mind Hive Films, Blumhouse Productions • TRAILER |
First of all, please, allow me, let’s focus on the maybe most surprising or out of the normal factor in this movie. Probably everybody has seen Seann William Scott in some movies. Those new generation supposed-to-be funny films, and there are a bunch of them. Probably you have seen at least one or two of them, the American Pie saga, Road Trip (2000), Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000), Evolution (2001), Old School (2003), Bulletproof Monk (2003), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), or Southland Tales (2006). So it is a little bit surprising to see him in a dark role as he does in Bloodline (2019). His passive and distant facial expression, the one that made him popular playing not-so-smart characters for 2 decades, can also be at the service of a very creepy, obscure and deviant film. His first role out of the comedy and complacent genres, and it is fair to say it is a brave move.
That said, Seann William Scott really carries all the weight of the movie Bloodline (2019). He is the main character, a school counselor, the kind of man who has to listen and understand hundreds of teenagers with all sorts of personal problems, some of them being hormones-coated bullshit, but some other being serious. And, in this matter, his very cold facade and short economy of words makes a good favor to the movie.
Bloodline (2019) is a serial killer flick. But it is not shown in the perspective of the detectives trying to solve the case, or not focusing on the gruesome of the actions. It is portraited and almost excused, from the point of view of the human being committing the acts. The human being and his environment. Young, with an exhausting job, with a young wife and novice mother, just having a newborn, and with a very possessive mother. Ingredients for a time-bomb. Ingredients that the director Henry Jacobson uses in his debut feature film to excuse the murdering actions.
Bloodline (2019) has a lot of ingredients to become an interesting film, almost a cult title in the subgenre. But it all remains half-cooked. The story Avra Fox-Lerner and Will Honley have penned is powerful. But the direction seems to be following other paths. It is not a bad movie, it is enjoyable and at some points smart enough to make you think about the ways our society is going, and the alienation of individuals can suffer and the way those can affect the future. Because we all are what we grew up being, our past is our trademark. But, as a cinematographic product, Bloodline (2019) has lots of shortcomings, lots of potentials is wasted. Still, it can be an entertaining watch.
RATE: 5,5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8883524
