Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Chloe Grace Moretz, David Strathairn, Catherine Keener, Terry Kinney, Cory Hadrict, Philip Ettinger, Danny Flaherty, Victor Williams, Opal Alladin, Tessa Albertson, Adrian M. Mompoint, Karina Deyko, Jared Kemp, Samuel Ray Gates, Rena Maliszewski, Pamela Lambert, Georgia Lyman, Jimi Stanton, Bruce-Robert Serafin, Tod Randolph, Celeste Oliva,Tom Kemp, Michael Christoforo, Freddie Wong.

Grief is a powerful emotion that can linger and control people’s lives longer than some are comfortable with, and yet it is a process that has no time limit, nor should one be imposed by the often well-meaning, but ultimately impatient in society. It also serves to keep us alert to the intentions of others, we might be blinded by love, of those who care during such moments, but we invariably scan the scenes to those who would benefit from our sorrow, to those who seek to destroy others who we hold close.

Grief, as a device, has played its part in many a film and piece of art, it is impossible to not believe in its raw power without understanding that it can play its own central figure in a fight against injustice that it did not know it was going to be asked to perform.

It is a reason explored in the film November Criminals, and whilst the premise itself can rarely be faulted, it is, with the odd exception, one that unfortunately does not completely seem to believe in its own resonating message.

November Criminals is a rare film that has the opportunity to turn up the dial on its own insight at almost every corner, to find a new twist in which to keep the viewer on their toes, and yet takes the unfortunate decision to remain seemingly happy to limp along, occasionally threating to turn into a more dynamic jog, as it uncovers the crime of disrespect, of assassination and of the moral outrage against the hard drug scene in Washington D.C.

It would be cruel to describe anything that beats with an artistic stick as being vanilla, even beige perhaps sounds harsh, but in November Criminals it would be fair, and despite the casting of Ansel Elgort, Chloe Grace Moretz and especially David Strathairn as Theo Schacht, that the angst and concern of the issues raised, have faded into a cinematic realm in which grief is overshadowed by damnation, into a place of young adult preoccupation, only resolved by the seeming mismatched relationship of the two leading roles.

November Criminals unfortunately, despite its best efforts, does not hold the attention, and yet at every opportunity you can almost hear the script demanding that it be allowed to soar that little bit higher than it is being allowed. To hold back on art is to deny a truth, and whilst the truth of the film may be seen to eventually play out, it doesn’t have that one overriding pleasure that it should hold, that of conviction.

Ian D. Hall