Michael Shannon makes his directorial debut with Eric LaRue, and it’s a heavy, difficult film. He aims for raw emotional honesty and moral complexity. But what unfolds is more of a slow, awkward slide into bleakness. The story wants to matter. Instead, it wallows.
The premise carries weight. A mother grapples with the aftermath of her son committing a school shooting. That setup holds room for reflection, tension, even revelation. But the film rarely knows what to do with it. Scenes drag. Characters drift. The potential slowly drains away.Judy Greer plays the lead, Janice LaRue, and she gives everything she has. She chews the scenery in the best possible way. Her presence brings sparks of life to otherwise heavy-handed dialogue. In her eyes, you see rage, guilt, and confusion—all tangled and desperate. But she can’t carry the entire film alone. Everyone else fades into background noise.
Alexander Skarsgård plays one of the town’s spiritual figures, and his performance sits in a strange middle ground. He delivers his lines with an eerie calm, almost too subdued to register. At times, he seems intentionally muted, as though haunted by something unspoken. But the quietness doesn’t build tension—it just sinks. His scenes feel like they should carry weight, but the performance drifts instead of landing. It’s hard to tell if he’s underplaying or simply under-directed. On that same note, the direction feels unsure. Shannon clearly wants to make a statement. He lingers on silence, on discomfort, on raw moments. But the execution wobbles. The camera work doesn’t help. Scenes often feel awkward and poorly staged. Blocking feels unnatural. Cuts come too late or too early. The rhythm never settles.
Technically, Eric LaRue lacks polish. Shots drift without purpose. The framing misses the emotional center of scenes. Characters speak, but the camera doesn’t seem to listen. Tension fizzles out because the craft can’t support the performances. It makes an already grim story feel even more sluggish. The tone stays consistently bleak. There’s no real relief from the sadness. No levity, no release. Just grief, guilt, silence, and more grief. That could have worked with stronger pacing or a more focused structure. Instead, the film leans into misery without movement. It just sits there. Watching it feels like waiting for something that never comes.
By the time the ending arrives, the film has already lost its grip. Instead of offering closure, it leaves things open—but not in a satisfying way. The open-ended conclusion doesn’t feel earned. It feels like an escape hatch, a shrug. After so much heaviness, you expect at least a shift. But nothing lands. Nothing resolves. The nothingness takes over. There are moments that suggest what the film could have been. A few lines sting. A few glances say more than monologues. But they’re buried under so much silence and stillness that they barely register. The film spends more time showing people sitting than moving forward.
Final Thoughts
Eric LaRue had the bones of something haunting and meaningful. Shannon had the ambition. Greer had the skill. But the film loses itself in its own weight. It lacks technical competence, narrative urgency, and emotional shape. What could have resonated ends up just echoing, and that ending drives the final nail in an already sealed coffin.
2/5
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My childhood consisted of weekly visits to Hollywood Video and Sunday morning calls to the local movie theater to hear the showtimes for the day. It was during my sixth trip to the theater to see The Dark Knight (2008) that I realized my love of movies may not be considered "typical." This love led me to completing a bachelor's degree in media arts with a special focus in film from Montclair State University. When I'm not rambling on about movies on TikTok, I am feeding into my online shopping addiction, reading a mystery book with specifically a female lead who has a troubled past, or most likely just eating chocolate chip cookies.
My Favorite Movies: Call Me By Your Name, Scream, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 12 Angry Men, and Almost Famous.