7 MINUTES – The Review

The criminal caper that goes wrong is always good for a suspenseful, absorbing thriller movie. Just from memory there is The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, (almost any classic film noir dealing with a criminal undertaking, if it didn’t go wrong it wouldn’t be noir now would it?) Odds Against tomorrow, Reservoir Dogs, Bob Le Flambeur, Rififi, and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

The list is just about endless, in fact, precious few movies about criminals show the heist going off without a hitch. Add to that list 7 MINUTES, a tough, unblinking look at a caper done by amateurs so desperate they are willing to risk everything to try and pull it off.

Sam (Luke Mitchell), Mike, (Jason Ritter, son of John and showing some good acting chops) and Owen (Zane Holtz) lead small town lives of quiet desperation.  They try and make some money through drug dealing and in a stomach churning scene that references Train Spotting, lose a great quantity of MDA fronted to them on credit from a career criminal. (Do drug dealers really do that?)

They decide to rob a real estate office; word gets out, as it will, to a local cop, Jerome, (Brandon Hardesty), one of the saddest characters I have ever seen in any movie.  Jerome has no friends, lives with his Mother in a small attic apartment and dreams of love with a bar hopping floozy named Brandi (Mariel Neto).  Word also gets out to Tucky, a friend of Owen’s family, played by Kevin Gage and he is one bad, mean son of a bitch, the usual character Kevin Gage always plays in other words.

Once all the characters are established and meet at that real estate office, as it must, all hell breaks loose.  From the moment the three amateur crooks come busting through the door wearing blank, white Halloween masks (which may or may not be a nod to Eyes Without a Face) waving guns they have no intention of using to the final showdown, 7 MINUTES is a remarkable piece of work.

At key points in the film, these characters and others are introduced with screen filling letters telling us their name.  The introductions also come at key points during the 7 Minutes the caper is supposed to take to pull off.  7 MINUTES is practically an experimental film, the title refers to the 7 Minutes the criminals think it will take to rob the real estate office, which has a safe with money not legally obtained in the first place.  The film stops, doubles back on itself, and starts again after introducing each character and their back story.  The 7 Minutes are stretched to the breaking point, rewound and started again from different viewpoints. Trust me, it works.

Written and directed by Jay Martin, 7 MINUTES runs a tight hour and 27 minutes and the tension never lets up.  You know these guys are not going to pull off their heist, seeing their reaction as things get worse and worse makes it all the more horrifying.  All the actors are excellent and function with Swiss watch timing.

The feeling of desperation, of characters living a hopeless life in a small town with no future is overwhelming. 7 MINUTES is in the same league with Small Town Murder Songs, Texas Killing Fields and A Simple Plan.

It also seems like a period piece, several 70s vintage cars are used throughout; although we do see cell phones and flat screen tvs. The only jarring note, the movie takes place in a small town, when the cops show up at the crime scene they are equipped with the kind of items you would expect from big city law enforcement.  And, in a key mistake, they do not send officers to cover the back of the building.  This leads me to wonder if the ending really works, I don’t like to give spoilers, let’s just say you don’t expect anything like a happy ending from a project like 7 MINUTES.

Nevertheless, I am impressed; I have to give 7 MINUTES at least 4 stars out of 5.

In Theaters, VOD and iTunes Friday June 26
GoWatchIt.com/7MinutesMovie
NYC Theater: Cinema Village