GRACE POINT

Stars: John Owen Lowe, Jim Parrack, Sean Carrigan, Harlan Drum and Andrew McCarthy.
Writers: Rory Karpf, Paul Russell Smith.
Director: Rory Karpf

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½

A frantic journey from a point of desperate realisation to the emergence of a stronger self is how many addicts would categorise their trajectory to sobriety. Director Rory Karpf, co-writing alongside Paul Russell Smith, has structured a pretty terrific slow-burn thriller based on that very premise with Grace Point, his first scripted feature and a calling-card work indicating tremendous potential.

John Owen Lowe (pictured, above) convinces as Brandon, a young man struggling with the trauma of a mother lost to substance abuse. His father (Andrew McCarthy), in his own act of desperation, has booked his son into a rehab facility near the backwoods township of Grace Point. A violent run-in with local thugs, led by the menacing Luther (Sean Carrigan), separates son and father, and Brandon begins a survival odyssey to reconnect with his sole parent.

His travails lead him into the care of kind-hearted vet Cutter (Jim Parrack) and the arms of empathetic local girl Sophie (Harlan Drum; pictured, above), with many influencing the path he chooses to take. An extended period in a compound prison gives the protagonist’s arc and the broader narrative some breathing space; the scenes may play a bit talky for those tuning in for the genre elements, but they are crucial in prioritising character depth, to the production’s credit.  

The 11th hour pivot that the plotting takes raises questions of logistics and the privilege it affords Brandon, but it is also in line with the allegorical nature of Karpf’s ‘deeper than it first appears’ thriller. No one needs to struggle with their demons alone, even if support networks seem to have abandoned you.