The School Duel Review
The School Duel (2024) Film Review from the 29th Annual Fantasia Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Todd Wiseman Jr. and starring Kue Lawrence, Christina Brucato, Oscar Nunez, Jamad Mays, Michael Sean Tighe, Eugenie Bondurant, Griffin Arnold, Arjun Athalye, Keiko Barilea, Christa Boarini, Rita Buchan, Aidan Close, Drake Clowes, Tom D’Agustino and Kelsey Darragh.
Todd Wiseman Jr.’s disturbing and effective film, The School Duel, moves along at a steady pace and regardless of your stance on gun control, the movie offers powerful scenarios that are unnerving to watch from beginning to end. Set in a future Florida where a Governor (an effective Oscar Nunez) helps organize a fight to the death in the name of the American way, The School Duel portrays the life of a troubled young teenager named Samuel Miller (Kue Lawrence) who manages to escape the care of his protective mother, Beth (Christina Brucato), to enlist in a dangerous game that could lead to certain death. Made with bone-chilling intensity, the movie is in black and white for almost its entire duration and only features a color scene towards the end which, when it arrives, will definitely hit audiences like a sledgehammer.
Samuel is expertly written as a troubled boy whose father’s absence has left a void within. Beth offers him protection and guidance, but can only help him so much considering his strong will and desire to participate in something bigger than the small and usually unsatisfying life that he finds himself living in. Beth is heartfelt in her sincerity towards her son and, as played by the wonderful Brucato, there is tremendous depth that is brought to the role of the mother. In contrast, Lawrence has many difficult scenes which he handles with the utmost professionalism. Lawrence captures the complexity of his hardened character to perfection.
Though the film begins with the life of Samuel at school, the opening scenes are all build-up to the bigger plot line which feels like it could be something lifted from The Hunger Games, yet the intensity of the violence here is not easy to dismiss. It’s accurately displayed and the references to school shootings at the beginning give the movie an uneasy feeling that is hard to shake from one’s mind the more the plot continues to unfold. There’s something disturbing about the nature of the material here that makes it a story that needed to be told in these troubled times, for whatever reason.
Jamad Mays serves as a key character, Coach Williams, who oversees the situation that Samuel volunteers for, and sees a glimpse of potential in Samuel. Mays is strong in his pivotal role in the film and more than manages to make the most of his relatively brief screen-time. Also on board is Captain Stegmann (Michael Sean Tighe) whose reasons for catering to Samuel’s wishes may have more to do with his own needs than Samuel’s. It’s easy to hate Captain Stegmann and if anyone comes off as a true villain here (other than the guns), it’s him. Tighe excels playing this role in a darkly slimy fashion that makes the audience ultimately despise Stegmann.
This film reaches a devastating climax that can haunt the viewer given its unsettling nature. There’s a part where Samuel is seen swimming that suggests he can escape the fate that he has unwillingly sworn himself to endure. Todd Wiseman Jr. keeps the hopefulness instilled in the viewer throughout and we want to see Samuel sort of find a way to erase what has happened to him and start over for the sake of his mother, Beth.
Lawrence and Brucato share some of the best scenes in the film together as the rebellious son and the loving mother. Brucato, in particular, has some moments of sincerity that ring especially true today in our uncertain times. Lawrence is a revelation as the disturbing events finally reveal themselves in the last act to show that Samuel has gotten into way more than he bargained for. Can he escape a dire fate or is the “good of the country” going to stack the odds against him?
The School Duel is simply a riveting film. Commandeered by Lawrence’s superb work, the movie also gives some smaller performers moments to shine such as Kelsey Darragh in a brief turn as the Governor’s Aid who lays out the logistics of the situation which is simply business as usual as other victims suffer for the “greater good.”
As the movie reaches its last standoff where Samuel is given the chance to win the game he has participated in, audiences will be surprised by the directorial choices that Wiseman Jr. makes. As Samuel’s life hangs in the balance, the viewer will begin to understand that his options were limited and only a victory in a game that can’t be won would set him free. The School Duel is frightening, haunting and powerful and should be seen.
Rating: 8/10
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