Sollers Point

source: Sollers Point

Sollers Point is another episode of writer/director Matthew. Porterfield's independent features about working class life in and around his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland in the USA. His well - regarded critical reputation rests on his fairly limited portfolio of work, in which all of his projects seem to lie under the same melancholic atmosphere that blankets Sollers Point. To say he casts a cynical eye on the established institutions and social mores underpinning his society is probably an understatement. I agree with much of what other scribes have written on this forum. If you're looking for a typical 3 - act storyline with this movie, you're unlikely to be satisfied at its conclusion. Porterfield writes and directs in a semi - documentary style and based on what we see here, building a strong narrative arc is not his strong suit. The film focuses on presenting us with a day in the life of recently released ex - con Keith, who is ostensibly trying to re - adjust back into the lower working class mainstream of his local community, which appears to be suffering from the effects of a terminal economic downturn. This directly and indirectly creates multiple road blocks for him. It's a well acted movie and I agree with others who note that lead, McCaul Lombardi, who I've never seen before, does have a certain charisma and star quality. (He looks very much like a younger, blue - eyed Jeremy Renner.) And it was kind of nice seeing Jim Belushi again, playing Keith's father Carol, in a very much non - comedic, support role. But I can also understand why lots of punters are expressing frustration with Sollers Point. We get the taste of a few half - way decent storylines with the movie, but Porterfield isn't interested in following things up. Keith just moves endlessly on throughout the day, interacting with an over - extended range of characters, some quite interesting, but with nothing much ever being resolved. It does become quite repetitive. Confusingly too, he seems to have an endless supply of different cars to drive, whilst not owning one himself. The propensity of characters at times to mumble their lines (under direction one feels) doesn't always help with clarification of what and why are motivating characters' actions. Sollers Point is a film that feels too long, too random and inconsequential for it to have a lasting impact on audiences. I think it needed stronger editing decisions to pare down a film over - crowded with characters and allow time to create a more consequential and compelling story.

What in the entire hell was this mess?! Holds your attention but takes you nowhere... No resolution in the end. I think it's sad that a review needs 600 characters. As if this terrible movie didn't take enough of my time! I actually only watched it because I like Jim Belushi. 1:43 minutes OFF MY LIFE! What in the entire hell was this mess?! Holds your attention but takes you nowhere... No resolution in the end. I think it's sad that a review needs 600 characters. As if this terrible movie didn't take enough of my time! I actually only watched it because I like Jim Belushi. 1:43 minutes OFF MY LIFE!

Dull as dishwater and just as boring. Not sure what the point of this is. Belushi must have been good friends with someone to appear in this, or they asked him on a slow Friday night. When did it become ok to do movies without a plot and good script? Certainly it's great to step outside the norm and try new things but this is not that. Move along, nothing to see here.

Great cast and solid acting but no real story or plot. If you live in some inner city's, this is the stuff you see everyday, so why would you want to pay money to see it? There is no real story, just a slice of the daily activities of a lot of people. A great writer once said something like 'don't put anything in a story that doesn't have meaning". This film is full of things that mean nothing. It is almost a documentary with the only point of showing us the normal daily life of 'some' inner city people, and focusing on the worst of them. I only give it a 5 because of the cast and it's (selective) realism.

McCaul Lombardi stars here as Keith, finishing up a 9 months of home detention after a prison stretch. He's living with his father (Jim Belushi), in Baltimore, with whom he has a strained relationship. As with many other films of this genre, Keith will have to decide whether to accept some help from other family members and go back to school, or somehow slide back into his old trouble prone ways. You want to root for him, but he sure doesn't make it easy for you, with his, at times, volatile and impulsive actions. Overall, the movie, written and directed by Matthew Porterfield (Putty Hill) , is carried along by its believable realistic characters and elements, and I was engaged enough to want to know how this was all going to turn out. However, don't expect any easy answers here or things to be eventually all "wrapped up in a neat bow".

No plot, no script don't know what James Belushi got paid but they should have spent it on a writer.

This movie is one of the worst pieces of cinema, I have had to sit through. The direction is uneven, cinematography is choppy and the sound is so horrible that the 10 people in the theater all stated that they missed 3/4 of the dialogue. The lead has an endearing blue color, hustler charm, but the characters are one dimensional characters. Can't tell if any of these actors are talented given the dialogue they had to work with. Jim Belushi looks embarrassed he took the part. The sound man needs to not work again. You can't hear dialogue, as the sound is so dismally inadequate!!!

This film is about a young man who is just released from prison. The story is basically non existent, as it only shows the mundane life of a young man who has not got much to live for. It shows him driving from one place to another very frequently, which is rather unexciting. Most of the camera work is from afar, which adds to the detached feeling between the viewers and the characters. I'm afraid I found this film very boring, and I don't quite get the point behind the story, or indeed the point of the story

It shoots hard in every direction and misses all angles just as hard, but i still feel that this director is going to be a real good one in time. kind of nietzschean illusion of grandness, trying so hard to intellectualise everything instead of focusing and sitting down and asking himself, what is this movies about, really, really really? Sorry for my english. It is not my native language (from Sweden).