Film Review - The Oath
October 18, 2018
“The Purge” films (and, apparently, a television show) are often praised for their depiction of American life as decency and community melts away into war between classes and races, merging exploitation cinema with social commentary. It’s a bit lofty to assign such intelligence to what’s largely B-movie nonsense, especially with “The Oath” now in rotation. It’s hard to believe that a decade ago, Ike Barinholtz was doing Batman impressions for Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, and now he’s written and directed one of the most precise depictions of the country in the Trump age. While he’s making a comedy, Barinholtz cuts fairly deep with his understanding of political divide and familial antagonism, maintaining a scarily realistic depiction of America in 2018, with all of its bluster, misinformation, and dangerous patriotism, rolled up tightly into a darkly hilarious farce that’s as attentive to laughs as it is knowing winces. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
Comments