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‘Eric Larue’ Review: Michael Shannon’s Powerful Directorial Debut With Superb Performances From Judy Greer And Alexander Skarsgård – Tribeca Festival

Pete Hammond
·5 min read

Premiering Saturday night in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Spotlight Narrative category, Eric Larue is an intense and devastating account of the after effects of a school shooting, but the focus is almost entirely on the parents of that boy who shot and killed three male classmates and is now in prison. Adapted by Brett Neveu from his own 2002 stage play, it has taken on new weight in the two decades since it was first presented at Chicago’s Red Orchid Theatre in light of the seemingly endless numbers of school shootings and the fact that the number one cause for deaths of young people is now by gun. But for his feature film directorial debut, actor Michael Shannon was most interested in looking at the effects of this traumatic, life-changing incident from the point of view of the parents, those of the kids killed, and particularly the pair of the young teen who murdered them.

In a stunning turn, Judy Greer plays Janice Larue, devastated by this event that has put her son away for life, and caused a deep and aching rift in her marriage to husband Ron (an excellent Alexander Skarsgård). There is clear confusion and a loss at how to deal with all this evident on the part of both parents. In this case, both are split by religious choices, a way to use, or try to resurrect, whatever faith they had, or have left, in turning to God. Ron, however, becomes essentially a born-again disciple of Jesus in the Redeemer Church run by Bill Verne (Tracy Letts). He is urged on by an attractive and enthusiastic fellow parishioner, Lisa Graff (Alison Pill), and clearly there are sparks between them as he grows increasingly apart from Janice, unable to communicate coherently about their son and what his actions have caused in their own relationship, which is hanging on by a thread.

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As for Janice, she is still deep in grief but returns to work in her hardware store where the trauma of what she has been through clearly shows she is not ready to deal with the public, a fact her employer increasingly notices. She belongs to the First Presbyterian Church run by Paster Steve Calhan (Paul Sparks), who is trying to nurture some healing not only for her but also the mothers of the three boys who died, and a meeting between all is planned. Both church leaders in fact are trying to bring them all together, but there is obviously a difference in the way their religions play into all this, and that is what appears to be tearing Janice and Ron apart.

One of the best scenes in the film occurs actually when Janice does finally get into the room with two of the mothers and Pastor Calhan. Fireworks go off between her and an unforgiving Stephanie Grazer (a superb Annie Parisse), the latter unable to accept the death of her son even as Janice tries to explain it was a case of bullying against her son Eric one day in a shower where he was humiliated. So does that forgive the heinous act of taking another human being’s life? This is one of the questions raised, but mostly it adds to the confusion of what has brought all these disparate people together in grief that will not go away.

We don’t even meet the title character, Eric Larue, until well into the film — with just 20 minutes left of the two-hour running time — when Janice drives to the penitentiary to visit him. It is a riveting scene, expertly shot, written and directed in which she tries to get answers from Eric (a very fine Nation Sage Henrikson), who just tries to explain he has great remorse but can barely look her in the eye.

Shannon’s film gets its power from the fact we know these kinds of conversations are sadly going on more frequently than ever in a country in love with its guns and where the killing of kids in schools is the new normal. Eric however does not fit the profile of most of these shooters, and that is also what gives this such a feeling of senseless loss — not just for those who died, or Eric whose life is destroyed, but also the families who become collateral damage, unable to understand what happened to their lives in the span of just a few moments.

This is a very promising directorial debut by Shannon, whose own stellar acting chops seems to have helped him bring out sensational performances all around including Greer’s in the kind of role this veteran actress, known mostly for comedy, has never been given before. She is unforgettable. Skarsgård also gets a refreshing change of pace here as well as the father and husband whose almost cultish embrace of a new religion is just cover for his own inability to deal with his new reality.

There may be comparisons with Fran Kranz’s equally excellent 2021 drama Mass, which centered on a meeting of two sets of parents on opposite sides of a school shooting, and even another debuting film at Tribeca this year called The Graduates, but Shannon’s unique movie will stand on its own and is looking for domestic distribution. Producers are Sarah Green, Karl Hartman and Jina Panebianco.

Title: Eric Larue
Festival: Tribeca Festival (Spotlight Narrative)
Director: Michael Shannon
Screenplay: Brett Neveu
Cast: Judy Greer, Alexander Skarsgård, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, Paul Sparks, Annie Parisse, Nation Sage Henrikson
Running time: 1 hr 59 min
Sales agents: Range Media Partners/CAA

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