Sundance Film festival 2022 Priemer
by Valerie Cameron
892/Breaking
Drama
I first reviewed this film during the Sundance Film Festival on January 21st, 2022.
892 was picked up by Bleeker Street and is now titled "Breaking" and is in theatres August 26th, 2022.
Most parents are trying to get through the day. They want to take care of their families and keep their promises to their kids. It’s not always that easy. As adults we work hard to be able to follow through with those efforts and we want promises to be kept for us as well. Brian Easley wanted to do just that. The film opens up with a desperate and broken-down man who just wants to be a good dad, who wants what is owed to him. His desperation takes a bad turn when he finds himself robbing a bank, but not in the way you think. Going into this film I was already anticipating a good performance by Michael K. Williams (Django Unchained and 12 Years A Slave) and after a great performance in the Small Axe anthology by John Boyega; I was very intrigued by the combination.
This is the debut feature from director Abi Damaris Corbin. Breaking is based on a true story and grabs your feelings and attention from moment one. The powerful performance John Boyega as the former U.S. Marine veteran Brian Easley is honest and truly human. He enters a bank not to rob it but to shut it down and get the attention from our government that he deserves. He is polite, courteous and careful as he deals with the matter at hand. The two bank managers played by Nicole Beharie and Selenis Leyva aid him in this confusing and scary day at work. The late Michael K. Williams in his final screen role plays Eli Bernard, the hostage negotiator.
This film packs a big punch and opens a big wound that our country has when it comes to taking care of our veterans. It reminds us of the responsibility we have to the men and women that take care of our freedom. It reminds us that our colleagues are more than just people we go to work with and how much we take our families for granted. There are moments in the film that get so frustrating, especially when you find out exactly what Brian Easly is owed. Human life is not something to just be thrown away, people deserve to be heard and helped and bureaucracy is fat and healthy in the USA.
When a man, a father and a soldier has followed all of the rules and still does not get what he has earned, can we blame him for going over the edge? This film is a compelling conversation starter. I will be watching it again.
Grade: A
CREDITS
Director(s): Abi Damaris Corbin
Screenwriter: Abi Damaris Corbin Kwame Kwei-Armah
Producer: Ashley Levinson Salman Al-Rashid Sam Frohman Kevin Turen Mackenzie Fargo
Director of Photography: Doug Emmett
Composer: Michael Abels
Executive Producer:
Will Greenfield Josh Bearman Arthur Spector Sims Frazier Katia Washington Jarrett Turner Harrison Huffman Femi Oguns John Boyega Mouthy Al-Rashid
Based On The Article By Aaron Gell
Principal Cast: John Boyega, Michael Kenneth Williams, Nicole Beharie, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, Selenis Leyva
Category: Feature
Country: United States
Language: English
Run time 103 min
