Title: Run Amok
MPA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: NB Mager
Starring: Alyssa Marvin, Sophia Torres, Patrick Wilson
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

What It Is: Meg (Marvin) attends a school that, just about ten years ago, suffered the worst tragedy a school can have. Her mother was a victim of that tragedy, and the music teacher, Mr. Shelby (Wilson), is remembered as the supposed hero of the story. Now, as the tenth anniversary approaches, Meg chooses a very unorthodox way to present the facts surrounding what happened. She is crafting a musical. But will the school’s principal, Linda (Margaret Cho), even allow it to take the stage? Along the way, Meg gets to know Nanct (Elizabeth Marvel), whose son is responsible for everyone’s pain. What she uncovers does not match the narrative embraced by the entire gun-toting town.

What We Think: I had heard of people walking out of this one, and I do not really understand that. Tackling tough subjects in a way we can actually digest is what used to make independent cinema great. Gus Van Sant’s Elephant comes to mind as something of a similar ilk, as does Mass, though that film deals with the aftermath very differently. I think that is the point. We all process grief in different ways. That feels like a recurring theme among several films at Sundance this year.

Looking at the film for what it is, young Alyssa Marvin does an incredible job carrying it, while the veteran actors fully commit to the more absurd elements of the narrative. NB Mager took her short film and did a great job expanding it into a feature. There is not much fat on the bone narratively, which makes the brisk 96-minute runtime fly by.

Our Grade: B-, A lot of what this film is doing works really well, and I think some people are simply way too sensitive. It is not boring. It is actually pretty funny. Offense seems like the main reason anyone would walk out. When this is inevitably released, it will likely divide audiences just as it did at the festival. Still, what it has to say about America and gun violence deserves to be heard. It is not a new or groundbreaking message, but the delivery feels unlike anything else we have seen in cinema. Sometimes it is okay to poke fun at the things that upset us.

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