Land Ho!, Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, The Battered Bastards of Baseball

Land Ho!

Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger

The Battered Bastards of Baseball

Aren't we past the point when a movie can score laughs just by putting bad words in an old man's mouth?

This is Martin Bonner

Writer-director Chad Hartigan's "This is Martin Bonner" (available on VOD) is, in scope, one of the smallest films I've ever seen. Yet by focusing on just a few weeks in the lives of two ordinary men, refusing to contrive conflict, and giving his actors room to find the goodness in their characters' souls, Hartigan has effected a cinematic achievement of quiet grace, uncommon beauty and lasting resonance.