Frontera
(2014/Magnolia DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C
Truth
Is The Only Justice...
Set
along the tumultuous Arizona-Mexico border, Frontera follows
Miguel (Michael Peña), a hardworking father and devoted husband who
crosses the border illegally and is wrongfully accused of murdering
the wife (Amy Madigan) of a former sheriff (Ed Harris). Miguel's
pregnant wife (Eva Longoria) lands in the hands of corrupt Mexican
Coyote smugglers as she tries to help her husband, while the
ex-lawman investigates his wife’s death and unearths evidence that
could destroy one family's future. Lives are changed forever and the
facts as to who is really at fault in this tragedy are nearly as
tenuous and complex as the issues and tensions between the people who
live in this region on either side of the line.
The
film is well acted, directed, shot, and all that jazz but it doesn't
quite feel like a masterpiece. The film was released in a limited
release and didn't gross enough to be thrown into wide. Many critics
were lukewarm on the film, saying that it tries too hard to be like
Paul Haggis' Crash (only set in the desert) and its plot is
too complex and the pacing too slow - comparing it to a singular
tumbleweed in a desert.
I
didn't hate or love the film. I thought it was average - though
saved by the performances of Amy Madigan, Eva Longoria, and Ed
Harris. Sometimes it takes more than decent filmmaking to save a bad
story.
Sound
and Picture on the disc are average for the DVD market - presented in
standard definition with a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles on the disc are in English,
Spanish, and French. Total run time for the film is 103 minutes.
No
extras are on the disc aside from upcoming Magnolia releases.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv
