The Quarry
In Scott Teems latest slow-burn feature, The Quarry, a fugitive on the run attempts a new start by masquerading as a pastor in a tight knit Texas border town. What he doesn’t anticipate is how the weight of his decisions will come crashing down as the local police chief takes an interest in his life.
When we first meet the unnamed man (Shea Whigham), he’s nearly dead on the side of a rural West Texas road. A kindhearted pastor (Bruno Bichir) takes pity on the lost soul and puts food in his belly, all while the viewer takes in their initial encounter through wide shots that capture the quietly unnerving nature of the situation. Neither man understands the other’s motivations, and both are too afraid to ask.
The unlikely duo travel in a beat-up van toward a small village on the Texas-Mexico border where the pastor is due to begin working the following day. They stop at an abandoned quarry on the edge of town that nature is slowly starting to reclaim. Teems allows the quiet of the setting to remain as the men brawl over semantics, and it rises to a deafening volume when a brief skirmish leaves the pastor dead.
With nowhere to turn, the man decides to steal the pastor’s identity. The con seems like a simple solution to a complicated set of problems until the local law enforcement takes an interest in their town’s latest citizen. Chief Moore (Michael Shannon) is a no-nonsense type who knows everything about everyone in his tiny town that hides his racism by maintaining an on-again, off-again relationship with the hispanic woman (Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace) housing the new pastor.
The Quarry borrows heavily from themes found in classic westerns. It’s a story of good versus evil set in a tiny town where faith and honesty matter more than any amount of money. Damon Galgut’s novel of the same name was adapted once before in France, but the two films have many difference. Teems’ take, which is co-written by Andrew Brontzman, strips the characters and stories to the bare essentials. The resulting features lives and dies based on the performances of its leads, which thankfully, are incredibly good.
That said, The Quarry will most likely fall short of leaving a lasting impression on viewers. Shannon and Whigham offer further proof that both are criminally underrated actors, and Moreno’s turn as the woman caught in the middle of everything is admirable, but the film’s message regarding faith and morality is murky at best. Viewers will understand why the man ends up where he does, as well as the decisions Moore makes, but the story lacks the emotional depth needed to make its final turns meaningful. The tension that simmers just beneath the surface of the narrative dissipates rather than boiling over, and that letdown spoils an otherwise entertaining feature.
Grade: B. Rated R. Now available on Amazon Video, Google Play, and YouTube.
(Photo: Lionsgate Films)
