In the wake of a tragic coal-mining accident in a small West Virginian town, the local community is struggling to come to terms with the miners’ deaths and what comes next. Writer-director Sara Colangelo’s feature debut, Little Accidents, is strengthened by a trio of impressive leading performances, raising the drama up to become more than the sum of its parts.
The setting itself is not something typically seen in mainstream cinema, which is one of the great things about a festival like Sundance – it gives filmmakers the opportunity to take us into a world the majority of us are largely otherwise oblivious to. In theory, we know that mining can be a dangerous industry in which to work, particularly for the blue-collar employees. But in practice, it’s never something we see, and out of sight, out of mind goes a long way in instances such as these.
At the centre of everything is a young man, Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook), who is left physically and emotionally damaged as the sole survivor of the mining accident. Waking up from a coma, prior to events seen on screen, he returns home to find a community divided; the families of those who died want his help to testify against the mining executives, giving them a larger cash settlement, but would also have the knock-on effect of shutting down the town’s mines, and the miners unaffected by the accident are hoping Amos will keep quiet so they can all get back to work.
In the midst of this, another terrible incident befalls the town when high school freshman Owen (Jacob Lofland), son of one of the miners who died, is involved in an accident in the woods, ending with an older teenager, JT Doyle (Travis Tope), cracking his head on a rock, instantly killing him. Afraid of the repercussions, Owen hides the body in one of the nearby mines, and the whole town is left wondering what has become of the young JT.
The missing boy is the son of Diane (Elizabeth Banks) and Bill Doyle (Josh Lucas), the latter of whom is the mining executive upon whose shoulders the blame for the accident is set to be placed. As Bill buries himself in his work, Diane slowly begins to unravel as hope for her son’s safe return starts to ebb away, and she turns to a local Bible study group attended by Amos for some kind of answers. As Amos, Diane, and Owen’s lives become more and more intertwined, there is a pulsating rhythm driving forwards, with each questioning themselves about the honesty and integrity of their actions.
On the surface, the specifics of the plot and its setting are not something we’re often treated to seeing, but underneath, there lacks a certain originality in the mechanics of the story. Whilst the dialogue is fantastic, and each character is given a depth not always seen in independent or studio movies, the dynamic between them at times can seem somewhat forced and rushed, and the direction in which events are moving can predominantly be seen a long way off; finding solace in the unlikeliest of places has gained something of a clichéd status.
That being said, the performances from all sides are terrific. Holbrook is superb, in particular, bringing a great realism to the role as Amos, psychologically and physically scarred by what has happened to him. The way that he holds himself, in spite of his tall and lanky stature, is enthralling, and though his character’s arc is somewhat predictable, Holbrook’s talents make it nevertheless a joy to watch unfold. Banks, too, is thoroughly convincing as an emotionally-devastated mother, torn between hope and despair about the whereabouts of her missing son. And Lofland is so much greater than so many of his child actor peers, it is almost unbelievable.
In any character-driven film like this, it is not always the story that is of the utmost importance. Often, it can be a fairly simple contrivance that gets the characters to where they need to be, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Though their characters’ actions at times let them down, the performances of Holbrook and Lofland, in particular, remain utterly superb throughout, which leaves you hoping much more will be seen of these rising stars in the years to come.
[Rating:4/5]
