A powerful film can be compared to a powerful painting. While, occasionally, a busy canvas can be executed to great effect, simplicity is usually a virtue. “Fierce People,” an overly complicated film, is a prime example of when more is actually less. Any themes presented by the film are lost in the overwhelming plot and bizarre characters.
The film begins with a mother, Liz (Diane Lane), and her teenage son, Finn (Anton Yelchin) living in New York City. Finn has never met his father, an anthropologist, but often watches his father’s documentaries and parallels his own life to the tribe his father studies. Liz is introduced as a drug addict and masseuse whose techniques are, for lack of a better innuendo, questionable. Finn’s plan to spend the summer with his father is thwarted when Finn is arrested for buying cocaine for his mother. As a result, Liz contacts a powerful friend for refuge. After moving to her friend’s lavish estate, the pair are sucked into the world of the wealthy elite, surrounded by drugs, sex and deceit.
“Fierce People” opens on a promising note. Shots of the wealthy are interjected with tribal images from South America and witty dialogue questioning the pedestal upon which the wealthy sit. It seems as if the film will discuss the legitimacy of social class. “Fierce People” raises this issue, but the audience is bombarded by so many other plot points, seemingly quirky characters and multiple themes that any serious intellectual stimulation is lost.
Essentially, the film is too much to handle. The main problem comes from the complexity of each character. While quirks can administer individuality and a certain charm, if every character is completely saturated in a sea of eccentricities and flaws, they blend together into one large, confusing blur. One can think of it like a sauce. While the sauce itself may be good on one particular dish, if it is poured over the entire plate, all the food begins to taste the same. Each character could carry an entirely separate movie and fill an hour and a half of footage with issues that arise just from their own situation. Instead, they are all packed under one bizarre roof.
The characters are in no way realistic and, as a result, empathy is never established. It is difficult to care about what happens in a film when disbelief is the only emotion invoked in audience members.
Lane gives a compelling performance as a struggling drug addict and is nearly able to carry the film away from death by complication. She effectively shows the conflict between being a dedicated and responsible mother and battling personal demons. Her performance is powerful and believable but greatly underutilized, taking a back seat to the many other conflicts.
“Fierce People” is a frustrating attempt at being a thought-provoking piece of art. The film tries to raise stimulating questions, but in the end, the audience is too overwhelmed to hear any of them. One motif in the film is the idea that “from bad, comes good.” Surprisingly, this idea was one that was recognizable in the film. Yes, from the bad came the good: The movie finally ended.
