In Cold Light

by Mike McGranaghan

In Cold Light shows the importance of putting the pieces together in an interesting way. The film utilizes many familiar elements from gritty independent crime thrillers like Rust Creek, Hazard, and Arkansas. Those elements have, naturally, filtered down from major studio movies dealing with drugs. What it lacks in originality, it makes up for in sturdy execution.

Ava (Maika Monroe) is fresh out of jail. She returns home to her twin brother Tom (Jesse Irving) and her deaf, former rodeo star father Will (Oscar winner Troy Kotsur). Despite an initial desire to stay on the straight and narrow, the financially desperate Ava quickly decides she needs back in on her former drug dealing operation. When a situation turns unexpectedly deadly, she finds herself on the run from police, as well as from a bigger dealer, Claire (Helen Hunt), who wants her vanquished.

There is one element that gives the movie a sense of freshness: Ava ends up in a scenario where she must protect someone else at the same time that she’s running for her life. I won’t spoil the specifics of that, but the development adds an extra layer of tension.

In Cold Light is gritty and suspenseful because Patrick Whistler’s script lays out a very specific minefield for Ava to cross. One screw-up and she could be back in jail. Or, if she crosses Claire the wrong way, she could be dead. Love for her family makes everything more complicated because Will, in particular, needs her around. Director Maxime Giroux shoots the picture with what could only be called stylish grime. You can feel the desperation of poverty all around, yet it’s photographed to have a dark mystique.

Maika Monroe and Troy Kotsur are excellent in the movie. She gets the audience to feel the never-ending pressure in Ava’s head, specifically the way she’s constantly attempting to out-think everyone who could foil her. He, meanwhile, captures a sense of sadness that envelops Will. The guy is washed-up career-wise and now recognizes that his family life has gone to seed, too. One of best scenes is a confrontation between father and daughter, set in the backyard where they have to repeatedly trigger a motion sensor light in order to see each other. That tiny detail brings even more urgency to their dispute.

Claire only comes in at the very end, but Helen Hunt imbues her with a no-nonsense form of danger. In Cold Light is able to use her late appearance to spur a final act on Ava’s part that cuts through the criminal activity to show us the woman she truly is inside. It’s another way this twisty thriller sets itself apart from the “indie drug movie” pack.

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