After returning from the war, Robbie Ain’t Right No More, and his family, including his younger sister Sarah (Madeleine McGraw) knows that something is off. As they bicker over a family dinner, they try to understand the things that Robbie (Jadon Cal) has experienced overseas and how they are going to help him. What they will soon find out will shock them.
We’ve all seen the films (both narrative and documentary) that talk about PTSD and how it affects the men and women who have served in their country’s military. Robbie Ain’t Right No More takes this a step further and tries to drastically shift the standard narrative that one might find in a film of this nature. Without giving too much away, Writer-Director Kyle Perritt includes a supernatural element that shakes things up and provides viewers a new way to look at situations like the one depicted on screen.
The unique approach that Perritt takes in Robbie Ain’t Right No More feels like the right move, because the other films–as important as they are–are becoming tired and redundant. With this, Perritt has to ensure that he doesn’t step too far from the main purpose of the film, and still finds ways to appeal to emotion and develop characters (especially in such a short amount of time). He does these things well–up until the closing seconds of the film that is. Through the first ten minutes or so of Robbie Ain’t Right No More viewers get small glimpses into the struggles that Robbie faces, without ever being told outright what is happening. This is perfect. However, as the film shifts in the final few minutes, the reality of Robbie’s story becomes too overwhelming, too far-fetched, too off the beaten path. Perritt reaches too far in the closing minutes of the short film, and I think all of the tension and drama that he so well developed up to this point is thwarted.
To be clear, Perritt doesn’t ruin his own movie by stepping too far away from reality, but he does hinder viewers’ ability to truly understand all that’s happening. We get it, and the story isn’t confusing–but to be able to suspend our disbelief as much as he’s asking isn’t working. There’s a moment toward the conclusion of Robbie Ain’t Right No More in which the lights go out–and that’s sort of symbolic of what happens to the film as a whole at this point. The story has effectively concluded, but Perritt continues the film for a few more minutes. Ultimately, Robbie Ain’t Right No More is too long, and once the lights went out in the film, the credits should have started rolling.
Perritt makes the brilliant decision to veer from the norm, to find new ways to develop a film about a soldier struggling with PTSD–but he extends himself, his story, and his film too far. Robbie Ain’t Right No More should have been a few minutes shorter, this team should have understood when to call it quits, when to stop adding to the story, and when to leave the film alone. Drama and tension is developed beautifully throughout the course of Robbie Ain’t Right No More, but by the end of the film, all that Perritt and his team had worked toward takes a massive hit.
Written & Directed by Kyle Perritt.
Starring Madeleine McGraw, Jadon Cal, Jason Davis, Mary Emily Deal, Walker Trull, Revell Carpenter, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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