Mass

The word "tense" is often used in film criticism. We all love to talk about the intense excitement of thrillers, action extravaganzas and horror movies. But only a few works can match the degree of impending horror with Fran Kranz's film "Confession", 75 percent of the action of which takes place in one small room with the same four characters. The film tells about a topic so terrifying that it takes a long time before someone says out loud what happened. The situation is a dramatic powder keg: a conciliatory meeting between the parents of a school shooting victim and the shooter's parents. All participants know that the conversation will not be easy, but with the assistance of the support organization that organizes the meeting, they still hold it. Maybe they hope it will help them heal, maybe they hope it will provide answers or reduce their guilt. The meeting takes place in the Episcopal church, which provides a utility room for use. A spectacular prologue sets the scene: the coordinator of the church nervously prepares the room for the event, and the coordinator of the organization carefully rechecks the situation to make sure that there will be no more painful triggers than necessary. There is no context in these scenes, but they convey the gravity of the situation so well that simply knowing what happened feels like a heavy burden. Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs play the parents of one of the 10 victims of the school shooting, and Ann Dowd and Reed Birney play the parents of the shooter who committed suicide. All four actors are at their best here, and it seems that the characters thought a lot about the grief they experienced, even if they never spoke about it out loud.