directed by:
Jaron Lockridge written by: Jaron Lockridge genre: Mystery |
We’ve got some missing kids, a mother who’s missing as well, a presumably deadbeat father from the looks of things, a highly concerned aunt, and a detective who’s trying to get to the bottom of it all. Life would be so much easier if everyone just told the truth all the time, wouldn’t it? Mysteries and Thrillers would be a whole lot shorter, though, so be careful what you’re wishing for if that’s your genre of choice. Spoilers ahead.
From Writer/Director Jaron Lockridge, “Cubic Zirconia” quickly establishes a framework for its plotline, and it ain’t all that long afterwards that they start releasing the hounds to figure it out & find themselves a body. To complicate things further - the body belongs to the mom – but there’s no sign of the kids. There is no doubt that it has gotten to Detective Bobby Clarke, who is struggling to come to grips with the unknowns of his case. Sheriff Tip Roman still has faith in the guy, but it’s clear that he’s not as confident in him as he once used to be. Partnering up Clarke with Natalie Brim immediately adds a new dynamic to the mix, even if the first couple of scenes really only have Natalie just kinda standing there awkwardly - while she’s trying to figure out how she fits in & how she can help solve this case. They saddle up & head back to the father’s house while agreeing that Natalie can take the lead as a result of Clarke not having had the best of starts to the investigation, in hopes that they uncover some new information. Jeff Benton (played well by Carter Nelms) seems to go from your basic unwilling participant to being a lead suspect pretty quickly. Bobby (also played well by Keith Lamont Johnson) starts to develop some theories about what might have happened based on their most recent visit, much to the disbelief of Natalie (Kate Mobley), who appears much more skeptical about what might have happened. Are Bobby and Natalie the most charismatic pairing you’re ever gonna see onscreen? Not exactly. I’ll admit, things feel like they’re both really struggling to find out how they can work together at the start of “Cubic Zirconia,” and it ends up being a little detrimental to the flow of the film. It quickly becomes fair to assume that the scenes they share together are going to move at a click just above a full flatline. Admittedly, they’re trying not to simply pin it all on Jeff, who does seem kind of like an easy target and a bit unlikely to be the actual killer/kidnapper. Aunt Kayla (Amy Taylor) starts to get all up in her inner Karen and details the standard description of a black guy from a white lady’s perspective, which in turn introduces at least the possibility of another suspect. Clarke and Brim continue their awkwardness, which in theory is a decent idea, but I remain a bit unconvinced that it served this film as well as it could have in practice - more than it seemed like it might have conceptually…it has a bit of a dragging effect on us, and the energy of the film as we watch. It does give “Cubic Zirconia” the opportunity to start introducing the backstory to what has made Clarke the way he is through a dramatic scene shared with Julie (Lavelle Mays), revealing that they can’t have kids together and that this issue has been more than a bit of an issue already in their past. This particular relationship gets a whole lot more complex as the film carries on, and arguably becomes one of the strangest plot holes in “Cubic Zirconia” as the film crosses over its first hour. In any event, when it comes to the case of the missing kids, the community is all still out there looking for answers, looking for clues, even as the situation becomes more grisly. We start to realize there could very well be some validity to having another suspect, and though the heat is not quite off of Jeff yet, the net gets cast wider to entertain the possibility of these crimes being committed by someone else. I mean, you know things are getting bad when you see Bobby posting up a bunch of note cards to the wall in his home – especially after basically ignoring what should definitely be one of the most traumatic events you’ll see in the entire movie – but yeah…you never see someone doing the homemade Post-It note boards without things starting to get more real than real, you know? ...Which seems to be the case! When Bobby goes to visit the relatively massive giant known as Peter Tull, he might just meet his maker if he’s not too careful, but if his hunches pay off, he might be another step closer to solving this mystery once and for all. You start to realize that with less than a half hour to go, somebody might just wanna call Robert Stack back from the dead because this tragic story might just end up being one of those “Unsolved Mysteries” if Clarke doesn’t start to catch some kind of a break.
What are the things that I’d pick on for Jaron to sharpen his craft? One of them comes straight at the start of the movie. Like, dude – Haagen-Dazs might have a monopoly on what good ice cream IS, but it doesn’t have the entire monopoly on ice cream itself, you feel me? Having a blurred-out logo at the start of a movie seems like something that is so entirely avoidable, and it immediately gives the viewers an impression that everything they see afterwards is somehow less legitimate by implication. Make your own wrapper if you gotta, but this is the kind of small stuff in the details that can make an unnecessary and larger impact by going the wrong route. Other small things, like the use of Natalie when we first see her onscreen and how she seemed out of place…I dunno, it felt weird with her just standing there silent for a moment or two, but to be fair, it’s possible that was intentional, and it does get resolved soon enough as Mobley settles into the character. Stuff like in the chase scene we see towards the end of the first hour…don’t get me wrong, I know we’re not all gifted athletes & such…but when you’re running for your LIFE or trying to apprehend a child-murder suspect…I mean, you’ve got a whole other gear you’d find rather than just being out for a run with a little intensity sprinkled in. Don’t get me wrong – I recognize most of these things are actually pretty small details when you’re looking at them individually…they’re things you’d find in a ton of films when you break stuff down piece by piece and frame by frame in the process of a review – all I’m doing is offering any insight I can in what I see - in a sincere effort to assist. The point is that it’s the little things that can add up big time when it comes to separating what’s good from what’s great. There’s a slight possibility that the whole Julia thing could be a flashback of some sort…maybe – but even if that’s the case, Jaron could have done a whole lot more to make that a whole lot clearer to us, which is why I’d probably lean closer to it just being something that’s been passed over instead. “Cubic Zirconia” meanders a bit where it has the opportunity to drill down and focus more, but I’d be lying to ya if I didn’t say I was still entertained - because I was. I ended up really liking how Johnson played the role of Bobby…and heck, I even came around to like Mobley’s contribution a bit more as time went on. Nelms was excellent, and I felt like when it came to the casting, if anything, we could have used a bit more screen time with him, but what we got was pretty stellar. The biggest mystery of all might actually be what in the all-heck inspired the title, which I honestly never figured out - but other than that, we get a decently cohesive ending that fits well enough, even if it wraps it all up pretty quickly inside of that last crucial ten minutes or so, and gives us a conclusion that was only introduced at the end. I ain’t hatin’ on that – in fact, I think a lot of mysteries remain mysteries until they’re just not anymore, and I’m not so convinced that we always get a complete explanation, even if we want one. Some stories are bound to wrap up in a way that’s kinda right outta the blue, which is the case when it comes to “Cubic Zirconia,” but it’s satisfying enough to warrant watching. There’s even an extra twist at the end that works really well. I’m going with three & a half stars outta five – there’s no doubt this movie moves at a pace that is a bit uneven overall & that we need more than we get in this film, but what we get is still engaging for the most part—a decent film, without question. |
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