Netflix pick for 4/11/16 – ‘Uncle John’

As heard in episode 170 of Cinema Crespodiso.

Do you believe in coincidences? How about fate? Because just as we here at Cinema Crespodiso are busy covering the 25th annual Florida Film Festival, a past FFF selection has randomly popped up as this week’s Netflix pick, and that is a little indie drama called “Uncle John.” Featuring that guy who is NOT Judge Reinhold from the first two “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, this is the kind of indie movie that appears to be two different stories smashed together, and fortunately they do come together in the end, making for a well made crime drama thriller featuring some really strong performances.

First there is the titular Uncle John, played by John Ashton, and it is really cool seeing Ashton get a chance to be the lead in a movie, and he does well here as the small town carpenter that everyone likes and no one suspects. You see, very early on in the story, Uncle John has a dispute with a local guy that no one likes, and he kills him, and then he disposes of the body. The rest of the movie he tries to make sure no one suspects him, which is easy enough save for one person, the only person who did happen to like the murdered fella, and that’s the deceased’s brother (Ronnie Gene Blevins). Meanwhile, John’s nephew lives in the city and likes a girl at his job, and they strike up a friendship, which he tries to get to the next level. His attempts to break out of the friend zone end up sending the two of them to the country to make an unannounced visit to his Uncle John, which is obviously bad timing for John, but he makes due as best as he can.

From my original review of “Uncle John” from last year’s Florida Film Festival:

…it does feel like we are leaving the Uncle John story to check out the story of Ben and Kate, and it takes quite awhile for the two stories to finally intersect, at which point “Uncle John” finally feels like one, cohesive movie, as Ben and Kate unwittingly put themselves in the middle of a situation involving revenge and murder. Really I think I would have liked a more fleshed out version of just John’s story, and they could have left all that Ben and Kate stuff out because ultimately it is easily the least interesting of the two stories. Hell, the Ben and Kate story doesn’t even come with much drama – there is the prerequisite scene in which Ben makes a move and gets rebuffed and then things are slightly awkward between the two of them later, but even that awkwardness gets mitigated pretty quickly and they go back to being friends. They both seem like nice people and it makes sense for them to try being a couple and it is pleasant to see them interact, but there is a real lack of tension with these scenes. Hell, Ben and Kate both come across as very nice, likable people with a lack of any real flaws, just the standard “I’m not sure what I want right now” kind of indecisiveness that is not uncommon at among people of this age.

Meanwhile the Uncle John scenes back in the country are almost nothing but tension and drama. We learn just a little bit about his sister and her untimely end and how that changed John, and how it informs how he acts in the present of this movie, and we also get some more interesting little insights into who he is and what his life is like, like when he keeps getting hit on by one of his neighbors cum customers, or the short hand he has with his friends in the community. He seems like a very nice but very lonely guy, but one who seems resigned to his loneliness. John is a very interesting character, and the murder just makes everything even more compelling. This movie seems to have more to say about the nature of man regardless of circumstance or environment than it does about the romantic proclivities of a pair of millennials.

Check out this indie film right here on the Netflix Instant and see how good John Ashton is for yourself.