Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his best performances in Andrew Patterson’s superb southern yarn, The Rivals of Amziah King.
PLOT: Following the death of her mother, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) reunites with her beloved former foster father, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), a honey-maker working in the backwoods of rural Oklahoma.
REVIEW: It’s hard to believe, but it’s been six whole years since Matthew McConaughey has appeared in a film (The Gentlemen). Sure, he’s done some voice work and commercials, but walking into The Rivals of Amziah King, I didn’t realize just how much I missed him until the movie’s bravura opening sequence. In this expertly directed introduction to what’s undoubtedly the best film I saw at SXSW this year, McConaughey’s Amziah pulls up to an outdoor eatery where he meets some friends and jams with them, playing homegrown roots rock, with all of them singing and playing with the type of joy that can’t help but wash over the audience.
It’s a great way of introducing Amziah, who’s shown in the film to be the beloved backbone of his community, making friends wherever he goes and putting as much good into the world as he can. It’s a role tailor-made for McConaughey, with his good ol’ boy charm infectious. Director Andrew Patterson, whose previous film, The Vast of Night, was underrated, directs with such verve and style that this will likely get a major release and turn into a new favourite for many, with the premiere absolutely bringing the house down here at SXSW.
Yet, as much as the movie benefits from McConaughey’s star-power, it doesn’t necessarily rely on it either. As the movie goes on, the actual lead is revealed in Angelina LookingGlass’s Kateri. The relationship with Amziah is touching, with her having happily lived with him and his wife as a foster child before being taken away by the state after his wife died, with them deeming a single father unfit to care for a child. Now that she’s back in his life as a young, capable adult, Amziah wastes no time training her to take over his honey business, which turns out to be a lot more cutthroat than you’d expect.
The movie also does a great job depicting the sense of community, with the rural Oklahoma setting a joyous collection of people living their lives the best they can. They immediately welcome Kateri into her ranks, with her quickly growing attached to the rogue’s gallery of misfits who work for Amziah. There’s Scott Shepard and Jake Horowitz as Amziah’s ex-con pals, who Kateri finds to be surprisingly reliable in a pinch, as well as Rob Morgan as his best friend, the town’s lawyer, who provides all involved free legal advice, and is a central part of Amziah’s band. Tony Revolori has one of the movie’s most memorable sequences early on, where, in a shockingly bloody moment, we learn why ponytails and honey-making machines don’t mix. The great Kurt Russell also enters the fray later on as the film’s villain, an affable local businessman whose methods contradict Amziah’s community-first principle and desire to help all those around him.
In its second hour, the film gets surprisingly dark, with LookingGlass’s Kateri revealed to have a harder edge to her than initially thought, with her angelic smile camouflaging the fact that, as someone who knows firsthand how brutal the world is, she isn’t afraid to fight dirty.
All of this helps make The Rivals of Amziah King one of the most unpredictable and wildly entertaining films I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully, someone snatches it up, as it’s a great piece of work and should rank among McConaughey’s best-ever roles.
