Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Stillwater
2021
***½
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, Lilou Siauvaud, Deanna Dunagan, Idir Azougli, Anne Le Ny, Moussa Maaskri

Bill Baker, an unemployed oil rig worker from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille, where his estranged daughter Allison is serving time for murder. When her lawyer offers little hope, Bill decides to take matters into his own hands and prove her daughter's innocence. The screenplay is loosely based on Amanda Knox, who spent close to four years in an Italian prison. In the wrong hands, this could have become another Taken-like celebration of xenophobia and vigilantism, but Tom McCarthy's finely nuanced drama embraces cultural differences and tells a moving story of a reserved and unrefined man who gets a second chance at happiness. Matt Damon gives one of his better performances in the lead.