Like “Singin’ within the Rain” and “As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood” earlier than it, “He Went That Way” tells the story of an iconic performer struggling to adapt to altering public tastes. Not like these movies, the performer in query is a monkey named Spanky.
Within the late Nineteen Fifties, Spanky dominated the range present circuit together with his mastery of the beloved midcentury comedy trope generally known as “monkeys doing issues that monkeys don’t usually do.” However in a post-Beatles America in 1964, family-friendly chimp hijinks simply aren’t sufficient to impress the Ed Sullivans and Perry Comos of the world. The monkey that was as soon as the preferred TV star in America is now scrounging for gigs.
No one has paid a steeper value for Spanky’s fall from grace greater than his handler, Jim (Zachary Quinto). A middle-aged man who broke one of many cardinal guidelines of finance (“By no means put 100% of your assets right into a monkey-centric household leisure act”), he’s now cruising Route 66 in a automobile he can barely afford to restore with a monkey he can barely afford to feed. However the highway just isn’t with out its perks — he will get to keep away from his spouse that he barely speaks to and his creepy priest brother who owes him a ton of money.
Apart from the entire “staking his future on the concept that monkeys will by no means exit of favor” factor, Jim is a fairly risk-averse man. However when he sees a devastatingly good-looking 19-year-old hitching a journey, he throws warning into the wind and picks him up. His new journey buddy Bobby (Jacob Elordi) claims that he’s heading for Chicago to reconnect with an previous girlfriend — a story that begins to disintegrate when he pulls a gun on Jim.
Because it seems, Bobby didn’t simply desire a to accompany Jim to Chicago — he needed to rob and most definitely homicide him. It’s form of his factor. The sociopathic teenager lurks the backroads of America looking for free rides, solely to brutally kill anybody who exhibits him a touch of generosity. He takes Jim’s pockets and his prized ring — and he nonetheless has the center to ask for a carry to Chicago.
He presents Jim a harmful cut price: secure passage to the Windy Metropolis in alternate for the return of his jewellery and the protection of his chimp. Provided that Jim has simply misplaced nearly all the things he has on this world, he has little selection however to go alongside. What follows is a tense cross-country drive that’s underscored by the data that Bobby may kill Jim (and Spanky) at any time. Bobby retains enjoying psychotic video games with Jim’s thoughts solely to pause and pursue a real reference to him — earlier than reverting again to psychological torture on the drop of a hat. As the 2 males get to know one another, the film shifts its focus so sharply in the direction of their relationship that it’s virtually startling while you keep in mind that there’s a monkey concerned.
Director Jeffrey Darling’s neon-tinged rendering of roadside America is luxurious to have a look at, and Elordi exudes the film star gravitas that Bobby must lull Jim into his lure. However the relationship between the 2 males is simply by no means fleshed out sufficient to be convincing. We’re meant to consider that Bobby’s willingness to beat his sadistic nature is the results of some form of inexplicable bond between the 2 males, however the connection by no means fairly materializes in a passable means.
A pile of indie movie inventory tropes — lengthy pictures of cigarettes being lit, a man howling with pleasure out the window whereas driving at sundown, and the dreaded “Most of This Really Occurred” title card — aren’t sufficient to salvage a reliable however emotionally skinny story.
But when nothing else, “He Went That Manner” deserves credit score for being probably the most severe effort at reviving the monkey hijinks style that the pageant circuit has seen in years. For the entire progress that America has loved since 1964, one metric that we have now undeniably misplaced floor on is “amount of monkey films launched per yr.” Spanky could be criminally underused, however his mere presence is a step in the fitting path. If Darling’s movie can get the ball rolling on an arthouse ape chase renaissance, all of its sins shall be forgiven.
Grade: B-
“He Went That Manner” premiered on the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. It’s at the moment looking for U.S. distribution.