The Retrieval, 2013.
Written and Directed by Chris Eska.
Starring Ashton Sanders, Tishuan Scott, Keston John, Bill Oberst Jr., Christine Horn, Alfonso Freeman, Raven Nicole LeDeatte and Jonathan Brooks.
SYNOPSIS:
On the outskirts of the U.S. Civil War, a boy is sent north by his bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man.
Black uncle and nephew team Marcus (Keston John) and Will (Ashton Sanders) – hired by white bounty hunters to smoke out runaway slaves at the time of the Civil War – are sent beyond Confederate territory to bring back Nate (Tishuan Scott), a free black now in the employment of the Union. Only young Will’s strained relationship with the self-centred Marcus sees the boy warming more to his quarry than to his uncle.
You can see the plot mechanics of Chris Eska’s western The Retrieval clearly from the outset, as carefully planned beats never allow the film to appear comfortably organic. But this is a tight little thriller/road movie that has more scope than most indies of its size; it also happens to enter the debate about slavery that cinema currently seems to be having with itself, following Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave, even it does only dip its toe. Its true concern is the complicated relationship between surrogate fathers and sons.
With his own father fled to the north, Will learns under the tutelage of uncle Marcus to exploit the already exploited for profit. It’s something we can see in his eyes that he knows is wrong. White faces in the film are kept at a distance; Will doesn’t seem to understand them, and they exclude him anyway. But as the only other African-Americans he meets beside his uncle are the ones he betrays, Will belongs nowhere in particular.
This is what makes Will’s interaction cross-country from north to south with Nate so important. Alone on their journey but for mother nature, Will finally gets to bond with another of his ‘own kind’, a people so alien to him. Will’s initial reaction to the bull-like Nate is that his eyes widen in fear – this, surely, is not a man he and his cowardly uncle could deceive and defeat. Disobeying dramatic tradition, Nate never softens much, save for offering to teach Will how to throw a tomahawk.
As Nate, Tishuan Scott is a find, gruff and stoic but with an underlying sense of dignity and heroism. He is, out of all the first-timers and debutants in the cast, the most professional. When he gives Will a fatherly stare, he’s magnetic. But in the cinematography, by Yasu Tanida, is where The Retrieval impresses most. Basically, the film has America to thank, with all its diverse ecosystem, for making location work so pretty and varied. Swamps, forests and open fields are background to the journey – here, in the quiet of nature, between settlements and absent of the ugliness of humanity, is found peace.
It’s the sensitivity of Eska that prevents The Retrieval from turning exclusively into a man’s western, despite the male triumvirate at the film’s centre. Eska, too, shows off – without showing off – an intelligence and understanding of narrative conventions, though he could stand to allow things to roll more naturally in future. What he has here are the bones of a good film, unadorned with much meat. He needs extra depth. But after this calling card, Eska could return triumphant.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published November 26, 2013. Updated April 13, 2018.
