Coco M
Loved this gritty, seedy little masterpiece of a film noir so much that I married the director! Ok so I'm a little biased, but as a lover of great cinema and especially this genre of crime thrillers set in the 1970's, this film ticks all the boxes. Shot on 16mm with dreamy coloring straight off an old pulp fiction novel, Morricone-esque score, and a cast of ruthless and down and dirty characters including the gorgeous Joceline Donahue and the iconic Kelly Lynch, who's performance here is one of her best. Everything to love about this film including it's brilliant director Oren Shai who is obviously serious about his craft yet brings a lot of playful humor in to his films that's downright refreshing. If you have yet to discover this film you are in for a real treat!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/12/24
Full Review
kevin c
A woman on the run from the law finds her way to a remote diner/motel where she begins to work and soon finds out the characters that inhabit the diner may not exactly be what they seem. This starts out pretty well but midway devolves into a series of twists and double crosses that just take away from what started as something interesting.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
ronald h
Definitely in Jim Thompson territory, The Frontier is Oren Shai's first feature film (He directed and co-wrote it). It's a better than average 1960's period piece, and it's faithful to its pulpy noir predecessors.
My first response to the characters was that they were cartoonish. And much of the dialog is phony sounding. But that was actually the case in most of the noir films of the 30's through the 50's.
The story takes place in the Arizona desert at a seedy motel with a greasy spoon café run by Luanne (Kelly Lynch), a middle-aged woman with a mysterious past (Everyone in noir films has a mysterious past, right?). A young lady named Laine (Jocelyn Donahue) shows up one morning, sleeping in her car in the parking lot. From the first scene, a flashback, we glean that she has committed some kind of violent act and is on the run. She tells Luanne that she is escaping from an abusive boyfriend. Luanne takes pity on her and gives her a waitress job in exchange for a room in the motel.
Other characters show up, including Flynn (Jamie Harris), a strange Englishman; his ditzy blonde wife Gloria (Izabella Miko); a cowboy-hatted cop (A.J. Bowen) whose intention to serve and protect is questionable; a grumpy bearded guy (Jim Beaver); and a young man (Liam Aiken) who turns out to be Gloria's brother.
According to the local news, a $2 million heist has occurred in a nearby city. The money, robbed from an armored truck, is being delivered to the motel. It's obvious that some or all of the characters have something to do with it, and we learn about their involvement in bits and pieces. Laine plots to steal the money and run, but of course, everything goes wrong.
The Frontier draws from Blood Simple, The Grifters, and a couple other western noir movies, but it doesn't measure up to their standards. It's an exercise in style over substance. But again, that's true of most film noir. I watched it with a kind of detached amusement, and in spite of its grisly absurdity, it held my interest.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Somewhat suspenseful, but it still keeps your attention.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/13/23
Full Review
brendan n
The film has a very low budget but the lack of funding doesn't stop this film from being intriguing. I enjoy noir films and this one reminds me of some of John Dahls early 90s films, the pacing is there and if you aren't into slow burning films, this won't work for you. The lead actress has a vulnerability and beauty which is quite a find for a film of this budget. The cast are all quite uniquely chosen, they have odd quirks and interesting characteristics that ensure you stay interested. It took a little while to realise Lynch was one of the supporting characters, she definitely has the presence to give her character an odd weird feeling. The DOP and filmmakee deserve the biggest write up as the shots are sometimes taunt and have that unnerving David Lynch style. Aint it cool news had written a positive review on this which remindes me while I was looking for something else. I like tight thrillers on minimum budget and this fills the void, I just hope Dahl has a chance to return to similiar movies like this. The Last Seduction is on my rewatch list and I hold this right up there with that film, just a fraction weaker. 02-07-2017.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
There has been a lot of crap coming out lately, and I really enjoyed a movie like this. The setting and costumes are perfect. If you are over the overproduced, melodramatic and cgi filled bullshit that is coming out today, this is perfect for you. If you are fan of Jarmusch, the Coppolas. Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, and old film noir and spaghetti westerns, you will probably enjoy this. I am excited to see what else this director has up next.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
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