Stillwater

Stillwater stars Matt Damon as Bill Baker, an oilworker in Oklahoma. We are introduced to this main character through his life at home, work, and without us realizing, we start caring for him. As we follow his routine activities, we see him traveling to France one day. It may feel disjointed at first as you may be wondering why is the story literally moving to another venue entirely after having established Oklahoma, breaking the single story arena in the process. But this issue quickly disperses once you realize he is there to see his daughter... in jail.

It's been a while we see a film that doesn't dump nine-thousand exposition in the beginning to make sure you're caught up to speed with the journey, and this is by far Stillwater's biggest advantage. Until the end, there are storytelling beats. And almost every setup has a payoff. The writers trust the viewers to patiently ride along the narrative and piece the puzzle together for themselves. This is how we follow the murder case all the way through. We learn, bit by bit, why his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) is imprisoned, and via the investigation Bill leads himself on, the mystery unfolds as the details come to light gradually when it’s needed.

The weakest link of the story is you don't feel the turmoil between the father and the daughter. From Allison's appeal letter, we realize she views her father as 'not capable'. She refers to him as a 'fuckup'. Why is that and what does that mean, you may ask. The answer is organically revealed when the plot sees it fit. We learn Bill has been arrested once, which prevented him from voting. He was also once addicted to drugs and booze. When the opportunity to nab Akim (Idir Azougli) is lost, Allison completely lashes out at Bill for being at the apex of all fault. But the reality is, we don't feel that her anger is justified. And we don’t feel it because we don’t see it. We don't see how is he 'not capable' as she describes. We don't see the 'fuckup' that she thinks he is. All we see is a father desperately looking for ways to save his daughter from sentence at whatever cost. The negative side of things mentioned in this paragraph about his past, are only expressed verbally, not visually, which is why you don't feel and resonate with the turmoil emotionally at all. The relevancy of mentioning Trump plus ridiculing Bill for being the American that he is to this motion picture and its story is something only the production house execs can make sense of.

The last half-hour of the show is one riveting proceeding of events! It starts from Bill spotting Akim at a football match he brings Maya (Lilou Siauvaud) to. From tailing Akim, locking him up in the basement, finding out the actual truth about the murder, police arrest, child interrogation to the eventual heartbreaking separation with Bill's newfound family, the finale is one intense ride! In the context presented by the story, to think that Bill has failed his new daughter too is really sad. While we are on the topic of tense, the entire search for Akim using his Instagram photo before the bloody fisticuff is thrilling as well.

The chemistry Bill and Maya shared is truly special, and you could actually feel that. The silent scene where she spots him caressing her mother's leg is something that couldn't have been constructed better even if you tried to consciously. That 'damn robot' is a hilarious highlight too! Just like the title, everything is still, especially the camerawork. Tom McArdle's film editing is sharp and precise! His cuts are where it's supposed to be, without a microsecond faster or slower.