The Messenger

We don't get a lot of films for adults these days, and by adult films I mean subjects for adults, dealt with by adults in an adult manner. Maybe adult is the wrong word. Lets go with mature. The Messenger however is one such film. It seems like forever sense I've seen a Hollywood picture with A-list actors doing pretty serious heavy drama lifting that doesn't feel like it's pandering to its audience. The films plot line is pretty simple. A returning war hero (Ben Foster), is assigned to a new unit whose job it is to be the first people on the scene to notify fallen soldier's families when their loved ones are killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not exactly sunny subject matter I know.
Foster is put under the command of a character played by Woody Harrelson who is a lifer in the military and did his tour of duty sometime ago in Operation Desert Storm. Fosters character has this quiet brooding beneath the surface quality that plays off great against, well lets just say Woody Harrelson. The two perform their weekly tasks as somewhat of an odd couple. Throughout their weekly encounters with the victims families (most of which are hard to watch), they encounter an at first glance odd behaving widow (Samantha Morton). In the beginning she is just another name on a list that the boys are sent out to talk to. Foster almost instantly becomes under a spell by Morton's presence. A courtship ensues that is in no way played out by conventional means.
There a two stories going on in the Messenger both of which add up to the culmination of Foster's character. One is being played between Foster and Morton. The other between Foster and Harrleson. The film was co-written and directed by Oren Moverman whose previous writing credit was the incredibly underrated and easily one of the best films of the year, I'm Not There. Here he is making his directorial debut. The camera moves so quietly around the actors that you get the feeling your intruding on their small town lives. Moverman knows how to write brutally honest and cut throat dialogue that brings P.T. Anderson and Sidney Lumet to mind. One thing must be made clear though, here is a director who knows how to work with actors. Foster is a star on the rise who has yet to reach his full potential and Samantha Morton has never given a bad performance, but its Harrelson here who skillfully and slyly turns in the best work of his already unique and great career. Their are many many reasons to go see this film, but you only need one, Woody Harrelson.

A-

2009