It's hard to get a movie in theaters. Filmmaker Andrew Patterson has experienced this firsthand. Despite stellar reviews out of Sundance in 2019, The Vast of Night — Patterson's nifty sci-fi mystery debut feature — was snapped up by Amazon and dumped on its streaming service. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the indie project was released in just a handful of drive-in theaters.
Seven years later, Patterson is finally getting his first full theatrical release with the sprawling new crime drama The Rivals of Amziah King. Thursday night, the film screened across the country. Patterson and star Matthew McConaughey celebrated the occasion with an appearance at the Belcourt.
"I fell in love with original storytelling and theatrical moviegoing, probably because it was a communal experience," Patterson said prior to Thursday night's screening.
The Rivals of Amziah King is a good vehicle for Patterson's true theatrical debut. The story — which Patterson also wrote — has both traditional crowd-pleasing beats and weird left turns, shifting from one genre to the next during its two-plus-hour run time. What starts as a small-town hangout movie shifts gears into a revenge thriller, with extended musical sequences, car chases and an intricate bee heist sprinkled in. The winding tale doesn't always flow smoothly, but the film's earnestness helps everything land.
It's hard not to be earnest when you've got a star like McConaughey. The ever-genial Texan makes what could be a treacly story work. As the titular musician and beekeeper Amziah King, McConaughey is having a ball in his first on-screen theatrical film role since 2019.
"I needed someone who would be a father figure — I needed somebody who would protect my movie with me," Patterson said of McConaughey following Thursday's Belcourt screening. "I needed somebody who would get down in the mud when it came to learning music."
After a few technical difficulties, McConaughey and a folk-bluegrass backing band (including Avett Brothers band member Tania Elizabeth) performed a four-song set to close out the night. McConaughey was on the mic for the opening and closing number.
But the true star of the movie is Angelina LookingGlass as Kateri, who reunites with her former foster parent (Amziah King) following her mother's death. In her film debut, LookingGlass is the beneficiary of the story's constant changes. She gets to sink her teeth into a variety of roles within a singular performance.
The supporting cast is a fun grab-bag, including the forever-underappreciated Rob Morgan, a menacing Kurt Russell, a purposely indecipherable Scott Shepherd, Cole Sprouse as a sort of dirtbag fixer, several real-life musicians and a redneck Tony Revolori, if you can believe it. And keep an eye out for a cameo from husband-and-wife Americana duo Shovels & Rope, featuring Nashville native Cary Ann Hearst on drums and vocals.
The supporting standout is Jake Horowitz as Remmick. The star of The Vast of Night, Horowitz is almost unrecognizable as a lovable scoundrel.
Think of The Rivals of Amziah King as Killers of the Flower Moon lite — an expansive, Oklahoma-set crime drama featuring a white male movie star in the (not actually) lead role, paired with a dynamite breakout performance from a Native American actress in the actual lead role. It's an ambitious swing, but Patterson mostly connects.
Now that Patterson has had successful outings at both the indie-budget and midbudget levels, I'm excited to see how he'll keep growing.
