A rewarding ride.
Locke
Grade: A
Director: Steven Knight (Redemption)
Screenplay: Knight (Eastern Promises)
Cast: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises)
Rating: R
Runtime: 85 min.
by John DeSando
"Make one little mistake and the whole world comes crashing down." Ivan Locke (the incomparable Tom Hardy)
A man in a car is your entire set. The actor, story, and cinematography must be superior, or no one will sit for an hour and a half (a little less than real time) while construction manager Ivan drives his competent BMW on the M6 and M1 from Birmingham to London (similar in some of the set-up for Drive). The exceptionally-involving minimalist movie Locke is almost beautiful with auto lights cascading in and out of frame while the protagonist navigates the toughest trip of his life.
Although Ivan has made “one little mistake” (his wife, Katrina, played by Ruth Wilson, would consider that an understatement), he is determined to go forward as an honest man to accept his responsibilities. He must leave on the eve of overseeing the biggest non-military concrete pouring in European history to attend the birth of a baby born to an introvert (Olivia Colman) out of his one-night stand. By leaving his family and his job on this night, he faces losing both for a point of honor.
Pragmatist Ivan's sense of good and bad is so strong that a fellow worker calls him “the best man in England.” Notwithstanding his weak moment a year ago, he exemplifies as we fully face him in most of the shots (remember Her?) the steadfastness and resolve that define a well-ordered engineer’s life. His mantra “The traffic will be okay” resonates with the resolve of a man who is used to completing efficiently his duties both domestically and globally.
The dynamism of the story comes from the calls on his hands-free phone system. Writer-director Stephen Knight expertly paces and alternates the calls mainly from his wife, his almost mistress, and Donal (Andrew Scott), whose job is to coordinate the pouring although he is drinking too much “cider” and has no experience managing. Ivan handles the separate crises with a relative cool (he does barely weep sometimes) so that by the end we are fully familiar with a man of substance challenged as few men would ever be.
His imaginary conversation with his father, from which we infer that dad left Ivan long ago, reveals Ivan will not repeat history by avoiding his responsibilities. We ride along with a man of principle whose resolve is reflected when he says, “I have made my decision.”
Decide to see this impeccably-made indie—it’s a rewarding dramatic ride.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
