-Written by Kyle Bain.
Six friends are Re: Uniting for their twenty-five year reunion. Having been apart for so long, secrets naturally rise to the surface–and one will shock them all. Together they will be forced to reevaluate their lives, all of their decisions, and what the future might hold for each of them.
Re: Uniting struggles to remain linear tonally–as it bounces around from place to place, almost incapable of developing cohesion in this regard. We constantly shift back and forth between energetic and jovial to harrowing and painstaking. Back and forth we go through nearly the entirety of Re: Uniting, and I sometimes found it challenging to connect to any of the individual stories, or the overarching narrative, as a result of Writer-Director Laura Adkin being incapable of creating something fluid through the majority of the film. I think that Re: Uniting had the potential to be a hard-hitting drama, one that hits all the right emotional notes, but that takes far too long to develop. I wanted more, I needed more.
Re: Uniting shifts about halfway through in terms of the physical tones of the film–the colors and hues used to drive the film forward. Somewhere around the halfway point the once bright and vibrant colors shift to darker, far more drab ones. They follow along with this story, and help to establish something a little more intense as Re: Uniting creeps toward a conclusion. What I had hoped would be prominently featured throughout, heavy tones, comes through in the use of color.
Finally, as Re: Uniting climaxes, it does become heavy like I had hoped. It takes five or ten minutes out of the somewhat frumpy emotional narrative to stick to one thing. Again, that shift starts to happen when the colors begin to change–but its potential is fully realized at it climaxes, and I was brought near to tears.
I think that each of the six main characters has the ability to reach viewers, even through their uneven emotions. Nearly everyone has the opportunity to shine, but one stands above the rest for me, and that’s Michael (Jesse L Martin). Michael is so compelling because the character extends beyond Michael–and Martin is so charming that he, too, entices viewers to love the character. There’s something about the simplicity in this character that allows him to shine so brightly, and that stems from Martin’s ability to remain so even keeled and honest throughout his performance. Most of the things occurring throughout the course of Re: Uniting aren’t ones that I’ve experienced, but the trauma that Michael faces as a result of just about everything else makes him relatable, so easy to understand.
Re: Uniting needs to do more in the opening act to establish itself as something more serious. With the constant shift back and forth between tones, I sometimes found it difficult to connect with certain characters, because they, like the tonal instability, constantly take viewers out of the film. Once Adkin chooses to attack emotion head on, rather than seemingly running from it, Re: Uniting becomes something brilliant. By the film’s conclusion I had little but fondness for it–and that’s thanks to Adkin and her team being able to wrap the film up nicely, with a beautiful little bow.
Written & Directed by Laura Adkin.
Starring Michelle Harrison, Jesse L Martin, Bronwen Smith, Carmen Moore, Roger Cross, David James Lewis, etc.
7/10 = WATCH IT FOR FREE
