Welcome to the wonderful world of house arrest and rehabilitation! Directed by Matt Porterfield and presented in the American competition for the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, Sollers Point is a simple but effective story, leaving little room for hope for our protagonist. Focus.
A reintegration away from clichés:
One thing is quick to see is that the reintegration of our protagonist moves away from the basic cliché, namely that of the former taulard that everyone rejects once out of prison. Most people here are happy about Keith's return and wish to see him succeed in reintegrating into civilian life. However, even if people are on his side, it is still difficult to reintegrate after a stint in prison. Finding a job remains hard, and the people Keith knew obviously changed during his time in prison. Not to mention a few unhealthy people from his old life who have not disappeared…
The film puts its finger on a very interesting point: whatever your desire to reintegrate after a stay in jail, it will never be easy, even if people are not all against you.However, if Keith's relatives are not against him, the elements of his past resurface and come to put obstacles in his wheels. In addition, the inner demons of the young man are felt more and more, until he loses his temper. Here again the message is important, since some obstacles come directly from his former life. An old life that still sticks to his skin. This implies that whatever happens, the present depends on the past and that if your past is filled with illegal things, it will not let you go even when you want to get away from it.
Keith, eager to get back on his feet (as he says quite often by the way), is a character we do not know what to think. Very endearing at first, his journey throughout the film makes us ask questions: will he be able to return to a life of integrity? Or will he fall back into his old ways? He is a resourceful and charming young man with the people around him, but he is also a fragile and skin-deep person. It is therefore difficult to know how it will evolve, even if the end of the film leaves little hope for a happy life for this boy. Despite all the good faith he shows, he seems inclined to fall back easily into his old tricks, not to mention the fact that we do not know when he can throw a violent tantrum. The film leaves us (voluntarily) with more questions than it gives answers as to what his life will be like and it is therefore up to the viewer to imagine if Keith's reintegration will eventually work.
A simple but immersive staging:
No feat of staging in Sollers Point. We film what needs to be filmed without really looking any further. However, this simple staging still manages to immerse us perfectly in the atmosphere transcribed by the film. The camera is often very close to our protagonist (very charismatic by the way), which helps us to attach ourselves to him because we are constantly at his side. The intimate aspect of the work is felt quite regularly, making the interactions lively and very appreciable.There is very little music and when there is, it is intradiegetic (inside the diegesis and therefore the film environment, which implies that the characters can also hear this music). This reinforces the sense of realism and gives the impression that the story on screen is authentic and not fiction. Director Matt Porterfield has brilliantly transcribed the gloom that animates the daily life of this Baltimore neighborhood, reinforcing the idea that there is little hope for Keith's future.
Sollers Point is a harsh image of reintegration but also of the inner demons that can torment us. A slice of life that can be decisive for the protagonist, without us really being sure at the end. Effectively staged and perfectly interpreted, it is a work that deserves to be discovered.
