The Mend is now available on Netflix
So says the illustrious Paste magazine.
2015’s The Mend is stitched from multiple loosely strung plots, and “it dips into familiar narrative wells,” notes the critic Andy Crump, but, he adds:
“Director John Magary does more with The Mend’s common elements by doing less. Remarkably, he’s able to distill originality from tropes. He doesn’t explain, he insinuates, implies, suggests. The film is as interesting for the things it leaves unsaid as for the things it does say, though the script contains so much sharp dialogue, we may be apt to forget about the tensions bubbling beneath the surface. Magary has his acrimony and eats it, too, but as much as he entertains us through comic hostility, his movie’s prevailing tone suggests deep and abiding fondness for his leads. The Mend draws so much from real, raw life, we don’t need specifics—Magary knows we can sniff them out ourselves through personal experience.”
What do such things have to do with our fair ‘hood of Lake Highlands? Oh, just consider this another opportunity to boast about our accomplished Lake Highlands High alumni, of which Magary is one (class of ’96). It makes sense to expect more movie magic from Magary in the near future.
Also on the Paste list is a film directed by a highly regarded Dallas-native director (though Lake Highlands cannot claim him) David Lowrey—Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, an original, haunting, thought provoking excellently acted indie starring Casey Affleck. (Lowrey does have some very cool Lake Highlands connections; this is something I have on my to-write list this month).
