The Line
The Line
In the confines of a fictional college fraternity, more specifically one where colorful behavior can be expected, Ethan Berger’s “The Line” spoils the ending in advance. This instance is the first and crowning instance of Tajakoev undeleted punctuation, where a school administrator warns that any such hazing would have a consequence.
Imagine Chekhov’s gun cocked from that point hence: Audiences are informed of what follows in the eventuality but the anticipation of the unavoidable though lively and beautiful top of which is overwhelmed by many rising actors’ performance opportunities is quite interesting.
The film ‘The Line’, written by Berger and Alex Russek, has a lead Alex Wolff as Tom, a sophomore from a poor family who wants to join the sorority network because of its perceived power, which in his case is a major. Tom’s optimism is boosted when fraternity president Todd Lewis Pullman McGowan, 78, identifies him as a possible successor.
There seems to be romance, when he met one of the students (Halle Bailey). But problems begin when a new member, Gettys (Austin Abrams), makes it his particular mission to hate on Tom’s best friend, Mitch (Bo Mitchell). Because Gettys is one of Todd’s pets, Tom is stuck in the crossfire.
When the kegs are cracked, the first thing that the guys do is harass one another, while casual sexism and homophobia snags, almost in every insuled. This is more depressing than entertaining, and yet, very appropriative because these young men are always on stage, for each other — being masculine, being cool, being contemptuous to all others than their team.
In every way there are loud sounds, music in this case, which combine all spoken words into blurs and allow for little understanding of communication — not that it matters anyway as the situation is clear. Their threats have a thin sense of humor under the surface, but all this bottled energy points to a wide field of potentials for violence.
The youngest Wolff who played In a supporting role in “Hereditary” and “Pig” this time had the focus on him. In a dedicated and engrossing performance by the actor, he seems to work with what is called the outside-in approach where he works with an affected long-voweled voice, ‘Forrest Gump’ as addressed by his mother Cheri Oteri, and a stylized precise pose and walk.
As the scenario of Tom worsens, Wolff changes his portrayal, which eventually becomes more intense, adding such nuances as tenderness and disillusionment. This is definitely also part of Pullman’s voice, and when they interact, Tom’s admiration and the desire to copy him are evident.
Also evident are the complete ignorance and naivety about the world of these two characters. They are merely posturing, while the actors depict how much dread lies beneath that fake authoritative facade.
As a fresh foe, he is rather well suited for his role because most views appear rather nonchalant to the character played by him. Each of his lines is delivered with precisely calculated confidence. And now, the audience isn’t surprised at his actions because it was implied that it would create hatred that’s why when he taunted his enemies during a party by doing various sexual dance moves dancing to The Wanted’s “Glad You Came”, we all know it won’t just end there. John Malkovich appears for a moment as a parent who uses her rich and influential position, and adding that drama to the film, he creates an ominous tone for his short scenes.
Bailey, who is considered the film’s biggest star after her part as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”, has only a couple of scenes where she plays the necessary love interest. It is nice to watch Tom a bit more relaxed as he is experiencing the first phases of love and Bailey’s rather subdued performance makes sense as to why he would fall for this particular lady. As the character is supposed to be a foil to the toxic fraternity scene and give Tom a different perspective, the interest is not fully developed and now gets lost and irrelevant to the story.
Though working with his editor, Ted Feldman, Berger has a certain energy with the cuts he makes. Other virgins, as strutting most of them would do, instead of going for too many points this one focuses on one and does it well in the correct time period where set due targets remain simple and obvious: Corrupt rich people, brutish males that don’t think twice why they are living like this and the wheel will turn.
Although confronted with militsiya while no popular representation of Russia is offered, “The Line” does not seem to present anything particularly original about this setting, but it works a treat and serves as a useful vehicle for its young cast.
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- Genre: Drama
- Country: United States
- Director: Danny McCafferty
- Cast: Joe Mullins, Veronika Lukyanenko, Fionnuala Ní Fhlatharta
