THE G Review: Dale Dickey Is As Anti-Heroic As They Come In Karl R. Hearne’s Seething New Revenge Noir
3 min. read
Karl R. Hearne’s new winter-noir is coming June 21 to Irish and UK cinemas with The G, from Lightbulb Distribution. The film is a revenge thriller inspired in part by real events, including but not limited to Hearne’s own family.
The film is carried immensely by Dale Dickey who stars in the nicknamed title role of Ann, a character who carries a lifetime of weight and substance in her day-to-day. Her tough-as-nails and take no shit persona is a cornerstone of worship shared by Emma (Romane Denis), her granddaughter who visits her weekly and even shares membership in Ann’s old knitting club from which she was kicked out.
Ann’s life is mostly quiet and idyllic, taking care of her ailing husband when she’s not drinking and smoking herself to oblivion. Little does she know – at least to a degree – that the two are about to be paid an unwelcome visit by Rivera (Bruce Ramsay), a man who claims to have acquired Ann and her husband via guardianship, jettisoning them from their condo and into a dicey eldercare home.
The movie burns slow at the tip from the start, and then gradually picks up some in its intensity. Par for the course is the film’s spotlight issue of criminals kidnapping elderly people from their homes, and then using legal loopholes through the system to effectively steal their assets, ultimately carrying out their nefarious intentions at times by even more cruel means.
A lot happens as the stakes are raised and Ann’s m.o. elevates a notch from survival to seething revenge, making her connections outside the facility to find out what happened to her condo. That effort extends further Emma, who becomes wise to the goings on of the nursing home and its machinations, while the two struggle to mitigate who they can and cannot trust while orchestrating themselves out of their current peril.
While imprisoned in the building with little freedom to get around, Ann befriends Joseph (Roc Lafortune), a resident who is allowed to attend to the garden. Their acquaintance is a slow brew that gradually turns intimate, while Emma herself finds comfort in the facility’s contract landscaper, Matt (Joey Scarpellino).
The movie is careful to service an intense its story without losing track of the mystery and core twists revealed later on. Its strongest point, however, is Dickey, whose steely-eyed performance presents a no-nonsense woman who’s been around the block, back, and around again from childhood. A straight shooter at heart with thick skin and years of life experience and the wrinkles to show for it, The G is keen on showing us all of our grisled anti-heroine’s dimensions. In doing so, through tragedy and stoic turmoil, Hearne makes it amply clear the kind of protagonist we’re sympathizing with and rooting for, and more importantly, the reasons why, which inch out a little further beyond Ann’s desire for revenge and retribution.
Hearne’s film is a dark, crackling revenge drama that intrigues through and through. Teeming with a murky allure and spells of violence to level things out, there’s love, sex, a touch of romance, and amidst it all, an escapist character study on what loyalty really means when it comes to family. The G explores this aspect of its story plenty with much depth, even some of the parts that hurt the most.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!