The Rivals of Amziah King. 2026
Written and Directed by Andrew Patterson
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Angelina LookingGlass, Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague, Scott Shepherd, Tony Revolori, Rob Morgan, Jake Horowitz, Catherine Dyer, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, Harrison Stone, Jason Davis, Bruce Davis, Sharon Blackwood, and Chip Carriere.
SYNOPSIS:
Amziah King, beekeeper, musician, and anchor of his community, reunites with former foster daughter Kateri after many years apart, and fends off threats to his honey business.
After putting on a show with his bluegrass band (the songs throughout are mesmerizing, deserving of awards consideration) while waiting outdoors for a fast food establishment to fulfill an order, it is revealed that Amziah King, the motormouth, sympathetic, and endearing center of this Oklahoman community (played by Matthew McConaughey, so effective in the role it’s hard to imagine anyone else in it) in writer/director Andrew Patterson’s sophomore feature The Rivals of Amziah King, is also a beekeeper with a local honey business, only to then shift into a mystery where detectives attempt to use his knowledgeand expertise to pinpoint who might have stolen barrels of honey elsewhere.
All of this is before he is reunited with his foster daughter Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass, not only outstanding in her debut, but essentially carrying the film across its second half) for another chance at instilling some of those same lessons of communal kindness through music, potlucks, and some familiar but still worthwhile metaphors comparing the hierarchy of bees to human relation dynamics.
Slightly backing up, during that inspection of the honey inside a factory with Amziah’s musician crew, there is a near-fatal accident that is played for laughs and only funny because the individual comes away alive. It’s at this point that this critic was somewhat confounded by what tone the filmmaker would be going for (Andrew Patterson’s sensational low-budget, grounded sci-fi debut, The Vast of Night, was certainly fairly straightforward in that department), which is not to say that the film itself ever feels confused.
If anything, it’s another assured and confident piece of filmmaking, this time diving into a rural subculture with sharp specificity, the kind that makes one wonder if Andrew Patterson has experience in this world. The conversations revolving around beekeeping, the musical instruments used (one character scoffs at another for confusing a ukulele for a mandolin), the skill in bringing out the beauty of the locales, and the descriptions Amziah gives to the idiosyncratic locals are simultaneously esoteric and endearing. It’s a slice of life that Matthew McConaughey knows how to sell as vibrant, quirky, authentic, and united.
Following tragedy and estrangement, Amziah is naturally elated that Kateri is back in town, taking her under his wing to learn beekeeping while also nudging her to sing with the band (which includes notable actors such as Owen Teague and Tony Revolori) and play music. He invites her to a potluck, ascribes a story behind every dish in relation to one of the oddball locals (and there are some truly offbeat characters here, some of whom are in his inner circle), and, as mentioned, instills a sense of community and forgiveness (some of the men he works with are formerly incarcerated,
Andrew Patterson manages to keep the film bracingly original, quietly moving, and visually sumptuous (shots of our protagonists harmoniously covered in bees, as if they are becoming one together, carry a moving beauty) with a score from Erick Alexander and Jared Bulmer that is similarly unparalleled and unique, blending together an assortment of instruments not often heard in movies (at least not recently), lending the story and characters a boost of stirring soulfulness.
There is a freewheeling looseness to the first half, mostly concerned with Amziah joyfully sharing this way of life with Kateri, while serving as another showcase of Matthew McConaughey capably charming an entire room and audience (it is a much-needed refresher seeing him out of tacky commercials and back into an A-lister sweet Southern hospitality screen presence. A standout scene incorporating a dose of broad comedy comes when they inspect a beehive at an elementary school where several children have already been stung, working together with his RV-living friend and co-worker (Scott Shepherd), whom no one understands, as everything that comes out of his mouth is garbled and indecipherable, to handle the mess and get the students to safety.
Without giving anything away, the second half shifts into an entirely different type of film, one that brings into focus the titular rivals of Amziah King, chief among them played by Kurt Russell in a villainous role with a couple of additional layers that, admittedly, might come too late to really resonate into something substantial. This sets up an unorthodox heist out in the wild, utilizing bridges and rivers, as Kateri befriends Remmick (Jake Horowitz, collaborating once again with the filmmaker), another trusted member of Amziah’s fold, as they work together to get to the bottom of the mystery mentioned up top. It is also here that the film finds some of its darker, crime-thriller edges, with Kateri prepared and willing to go to great lengths to seek revenge and restore what belongs to Amziah.
Although much of this works on the strength of the characterization alone, one occasionally sees Andrew Patterson embrace convenience and the unexpected to push The Rivals of Amziah King in different directions. There is a narrative passing of the torch with Kateri taking center stage, something that Angelina LookingGlass fully impresses in doing so, finding and expressing new layers to the character, even if the storytelling within those crime aspects might not be as tight or compelling as the jovial first half that revels in highlighting this agricultural subculture. Nevertheless, the performances throughout and the score are more than a worthy rival to those small shortcomings, as the emphasis on community, music, and beekeeping metaphors comes through narratively, visually, and sonically.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
