REVIEW: finestkind is a crime drama of the finest kind
Posted December 14, 2023 4:58 pm.
Crime dramas are a genre older than the medium of film. The genre’s tropes are a good way of heightening tension, taking a situation and making the stakes much more dire very quickly. When characters we like are worried about the law, the audience worries about them.
With his latest film finestkind, director Brian Helgeland (the director of Legend and A Knight’s Tale) makes a fantastic crime drama out of a setting not terribly well-represented in modern filmmaking, commercial fishing boats. This film is about two half-brothers played by Ben Foster (from Hell or High Water) and Toby Wallace (from the Royal Hotel) who begin to reconnect as the latter joins up with the former’s commercial fishing crew. But as the two continue to work together, the times turn tough and the two find themselves having to court the local crime scene in order to survive.
Where the film excels the most is in its depiction of a community among this commercial fishing crew. Alongside enjoyable supporting performances from Ismael Cruz Córdova (from the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) and Aaron Stanford (from X2), the film is at its best when it’s at its chummiest. Those who don’t eat meat or fish will struggle with large chunks of this film, but if you can look past the industry they work in an excellent and engaging camaraderie.
This makes for a thrilling story when the criminal element does arrive. The script is incredibly well written, aided by immense chemistry from all the characters in the crew. Helgeland tells me this is the reason why he loves working in the crime genre, because it can take immense chemistry and bring it to a height that can feel overwhelming. The elements of the crime genre “always works very well as an accelerant to drama because you can skip stages and you can skip things because someone’s pointing a gun in your face.”
The film succeeds best with the chemistry shown between characters, such as the romantic connection between Wallace’s protagonist and Jenna Ortega (from Wednesday). Ortega gets to show off a side here she often doesn’t. In several of her scream queen roles, she’s timid and scared earning her strength through the traumatic narrative. But here, she’s confident from the get go and knows exactly what she wants. It’s an endearing turn for her.
However, the most enjoyable relationship to watch is that of the strained relationship between Ben Foster’s character and his prickly father (played by Tommy Lee Jones from No Country for Old Men). These two seasoned actors display a complicated relationship, full of bitter love and comfortable hate. Their relationship isn’t just the best acted, but the best written as well. Helgeland tells me he’s been working on this script for most of his career, having based it off of his time growing up in the commercial fishing community of New Bedford Massachusetts.
“The very first draft of it I did 30 years ago, it was more focused on the father and son. And then as it evolved it became really the brothers and being able to see two different versions of a father.” While the Foster’s portrayal of his character’s relationship with his father is the film’s most engaging element, there is a lot of power shown in the relationship of the brothers as well. This film is centered around them, and their affection for each other despite their differences. It’s an incredibly enjoyable film, especially for anyone who has had multiple arguments with members of their family.
finestkind is a film that feels incredibly local to the filmmaker’s home, but also universal. It utilizes the tropes of the crime genre to tell a rough and human story about family and its complications. This film gets a 4/5, you can watch it on Paramount+ and you can listen to my interview with the director here.
