Rudderless movie review

Now he’s added writer and director to his CV – and he’s done a superb job on both counts. Rudderless is a totally engrossing, heart-wrenching exercise with a musical bonus that will keep your feet tapping. There is a jarring twist midway, which throws the film into a darker area.

Actor Billy Crudup, in his finest work to date, plays the lead with a slightly acidic wryness that suggests the character’s humour is born of grief and hopelessness. Directed and co-written by Macy, who has a cameo as the owner of a pub, Rudderless plots a course that plays with the mind and the emotions.

Crudup plays Sam, a successful advertising executive whose world falls apart after the tragic death of his son, Josh, in a high school shooting. Over two years Sam loses both his job and his home. He is divorced, lives alone on a boat and works as a house painter when he’s not annoying the neighbours.

Felicity Huffman, who is Sam’s ex-wife, tracks him down and gives him a box of Josh’s possessions, including his guitar, notebooks and some CDs of songs he recorded in his dorm room. Initially Sam wants nothing to do with the reminders of his beloved boy, but eventually he takes out the guitar and teaches himself to play the songs.

He does an open-mic performance at a local pub, singing one of Josh’s songs where an aspiring musician, Quentin (Anton Yelchin), is impressed. It takes a while for Quentin to persuade Sam to help form a band to flesh out his son’s heartfelt songs.

The quirky relationship that develops between Quentin, who never knew his father, and the grieving Sam is beautifully done. Sam mentors Quentin and Quentin practically worships this cool father figure who possesses this astounding catalogue of songs.

What lifts Rudderless considerably is Macy’s courageous move in the development of the plot that forces the viewer to rethink nearly everything that has transpired. It is one of the more memorable films to have emerged this year.