As a town is devastated by a terrible mining accident, Little Accidents follows a number of residents as they battle with guilt, secrets and the strength of truth. The life of a small boy (Jacob Lofland), the lonely wife of a mining executive (Elizabeth Banks) and the lone survivor (Boyd Holbrook) are forced together as the death of a teenage boy brings further strife to this already crushed town.
Director and writer Sara Colangelo really tries to bring home the desperation and depression of the accident and the events that follow. With a truly talented cast, this indie hit could have been something great, but Colangelo seemingly directs it to its grave as the actors are often so dour that it’s hard to attach yourself. There are moments when you can see into the characters, but they’re only glimpses and rarely do we get to see past the accident into the people and it was hard to support any character except for the boy Owen Briggs, whose antithesis of innocence and guilt was portrayed magnificently by Lofland.
On top of this dour approach, Little Accidents suffered from a break in narrative in the middle of the film. It’s easy to see that this was adapted from Colangelo’s 2010 short of the same name and I think she struggled to expand the story to an hour forty five. The characters took too long to resolve what seemed obvious from the beginning, with constant back and forth that was neither relatable nor understandable and then resolved almost instantly. This being said, when the conflict of lone survivor Amos (Holbrook) was finally resolved we were treated to a brilliantly emotional end where Lofland once again excels himself as the truth is finally revealed.
With a fantastic start and fantastic finish, Little Accidents is bleak throughout, but despite some spectacularly understated moments of true drama and devastation, this tale of chaos loses itself in the middle, ruining what could be an otherwise great film.
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