Festa Mobile screening - review - THIS IS MARTIN BONNER by Chad Hartigan

When he moved from the East Coast, the Australian born Martin Bonner, who worked in the Church business most of his life despite his disenchantment towards religious establishments, did not think that Nevada could get so cold. Nevada is often cinematically represented as a place of vice and bright lights, but not in the small town in which Hartigan’s film is set. There, he reveals a side of America that is very much alive, a small town of melancholia and soft-spoken sentiments but also abandonment, detachment and alienation. 

This is Martin Bonner is a film about the meeting between two lonely men, the afore mentioned titular Martin Bonner and Travis, a man who has just been released from jail and tries to re-connect with the outside world – from its evolved technology to his estranged daughter. As a drama, it is a revival of the simplicity of classic filmmaking both narratively and technically speaking. Its story, in fact, is very much driven by emotional depths and character examinations rather than conventional narrative structure itself. Its soft spoken nature and respect for real human feelings makes such a study very effective and deep. 

Technically speaking, Hartigan chooses to employ a cinematography that conveys at once the emotional architecture of its piece but also digs deep within the psychological charge of its widely desolate setting. While such a style may seem relatively simple, many techniques are actually tastefully ambitious, such as his use of 360 degrees pans and zooms – both techniques that cinema has for some reason become almost blatantly timorous of. The result is wonderful. This is Martin Bonner winks at the classic and romantic depiction of friendship and connection in a way that is rarely seen anymore and is therefore refreshing, but its air of classicism is never overdone. Therefore, Hartigan’s film never slips comfortably into an tributary exercise of referential cinema. 

The film's impact is strengthened by the performance of the two leads, Paul Eenhorn as Martin and Richmond Arquette as travis, whose sentiments are punctuated by kindness and humanity. They too complete the film's gentle intimacy and make it easy for the audience to connect and understand the nature of their characters.

Human warmth, whether it is a lack of it or in its existence, is always the credible driving force behind the film and the element that allows a wonderful and enriching connection between characters and audience. In other words, Hartigan achieves exactly what he sets out to achieves and it’s wonderfully refreshing to see a film work so wholly and wonderfully in doing just that.