Part 1: the Glanton’s

Colorful lights and bright sounds fill the screen, as we see a much darker figure in a white shirt pop out. He’s smoking a cigarette and plastered in tattoos that look decades old whilst the man is only a couple old. We are introduced to Luke Glanton, a circus performer who specializes in bikes. He’s known to be a great rider!

We are introduced to his lover, Romina. Their story is complicated… Luke visits whenever he wants but Romina has moved on who treats her better and can support her. She now has a house, is taking care of her mom, and raising the baby Luke had left her,, unbeknownst to his knowledge. We see Luke’s raw reaction to him finding out he has a child. Not the greatest look but a moment full of emotion.

The visits become more frequent after finding out they have a kid. He finds her at work, takes her for a ride, and tries to live a fantasy he believes is achievable.

There are more relationships that are built in this part, like Luke’s best friend, Robin. This unlocks a new side to the movie that is less romantic and more evil. A new life of crime is formed, stealing from banks to afford cribs for Luke’s baby. We see him do this regularly… until it’s too late.

Part 2: Avery’s climbing up tree’s

Following the tragedy of Luke’s death, Avery now becomes the center of attention for this movie. We follow his struggles of grieving for a life he didn’t know much of. Avery took Luke’s life personally, in the sense that he saw himself in his shoes. Once he found out about Jason, Luke’s son, it was over for Avery. He couldn’t bear the pain of knowing what that young kid will now face not having his father in his life. Even if this statement isn’t fully true considering the family struggles that showed early signs of a potential absent father, this thoughts has lasting impacts on Avery’s life.

Besides his internal struggles, Avery uncovers massive corruption within his own police department. Gang affiliation, drug possession, and theft all occurring under everyone’s noses; almost comedic since that is what they swore to protect against. Compiling all these stresses, we see major changes occur to Avery’s perspective on life and even his family. We see him indulge in this evil by threatening his boss with leaking this information if he doesn’t get his desired position. We see Avery steal the money that Luke gave to Romina back when he was addicted to robbing banks.

Full circle moment…

There’s not much nuance to these scenes but I believe that this prevalent problem is the core idea of the movie. We see how those who are making ends meet in this movie are constantly pushed to make wrong decisions. Whilst Luke was trying to find honest work with Robin, he got sucked into stealing from banks to support his family. No one force him to do this so it’s very important to acknowledge that his death were the actions to his consequences. At the same time, pointing out how both Luke and Avery were pushed to do things they weren’t necessarily acting on within their own consciousness.

This is a lesson that I believe everyone should learn and practice. Surround yourself with malice and your start acting malicious. We all have morals that stop us from doing certain things but we see how a father and someone with a high position within a group that is meant to serve the community can make dishonest decisions to the person they really want to be.

Part 3: the saga within the movie…

We now follow A.J., who is on the left, and Jason. We watch A.J. grow up and start developing some tension between his now divorced parents. He doesn’t seem to enjoy being Avery’s son, who is no campaigning to become mayor of the city!

This was my second favorite part. Partly because I finally started understanding the movie but also because of the dynamic that was presented between the two guy’s above. Connection and community is one of the highest morals I value. The new kid and lone-wolf duo is such a great way to start a story.

They seem to hit if off after they first conversation in the cafeteria! We get this mystical scene where they skip class, decide to light up some grass, and they roam their local park. Ambient and melodic music is playing in the background with this grey-ish filter applied to the edges of the screen. The camera gets more shaky too, adding to this effect that we have joined in on their experience.

These drug problems escalate and they get caught up trying to buy ecstasy… to make matters worse, Avery is the one who ends up finding them. For this reason, they don’t face any major charges but this leads Jason to discover more about his biological dad. More issues occur between the two given Luke and Avery’s history. This leads to a couple big fights that Jason insinuates, but he eventually finds peace! I’m making these remarks vague because I want YOU to discover the ending yourself!