ST. LOUIS — Addiction and grief run hand in hand, a pair of theme park ride operators who carve their way into human lives and burn them to the ground. Will (Charlie Heaton) and Claire (Catherine Keener) know those operators well, but from different points of view.
He's a recovering addict who found a way to get unhooked and start anew, but her son Chris (Jefferson White) couldn't and overdosed. Bound by tragedy and grief cross-fading at the worst time, they step into each other's lives in uncomfortable yet uncompromising ways. Their decisions may look unsavory to onlookers but then again, how does one properly grieve without making a mess?
Trust me, the bittersweet yet wise news is that "No Future" ends before the Hollywood clichés can attack the story, much like Will ran away from his hometown before it could swallow him whole. Chris was his best friend, but drugs were the co-pilot that only life dismemberment could destroy. Writer/Director team Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot's script doesn't force itself upon the viewer, instead allowing its hero and villain-less tale to unfold at a slow pace.
In other words, there's a lot more to the story than what I've told you. Will isn't the protagonist that the run-of-the-mill Hollywood drug drama would have him be, painting a redemption song that can be heard from miles away. But Heaton's escapist isn't the bad guy either. The screenplay paints in between the lines, showing us normal shades of storytelling that has come before it, but also contains a few nice twists.
Granted, they are understated twists and not rug-pullers. Will and Claire don't start aging backwards or growing older by the minute; Heaton and Keener give deft performances that keep the past of their characters shaded. It's not easy to make a dark story without compromising the message--and the leads are very effective at keeping a lot of what we need to know hidden until late, all the way up to the nonchalant ending.
There's little cinematic about the movie, which pays respect to the subject matter more than it deters it. The camera work and technical aspects don't beat you over the head, and the score is fitting without ringing.
I appreciated the restraint in the performances of Jackie Earle Haley and the tenderness in the work of Rosa Salazar. Keener hasn't overacted once in her career, and she doesn't start here. It's the kind of introspective and compassionate work we've come to expect from her. White, aka Jimmy from "Yellowstone," gives a nice performance as the character who looms over the movie, tying characters and their fates together.
But it's Heaton-who is well known as Jonathan Byers on "Stranger Things"- that will stand out after the credits roll. He's just short of a revelation as a young man who somehow found a way to fix his broken life, but finds himself pulled back in after a loss. There's a lot of internal work in his performance that stretches beyond the scene.
Heaton looks like a guy who would like to use his skin as a blanket, closing himself off from the world. Without a spoken word, he convinces you of that. Will's arc isn't 100% noble, but you follow along due to the acting.
The same can be said for the movie. At times, it hits you awkwardly or right on the middle of the nail's head, but the acting carries Irvine and Smoot's work through.
The most potent thing about "No Future" is its decision on where to end, and how anti-Hollywood that feels. It may not be what people want, but it was the thing that caught my attention the most in the film's 84 minutes, in addition to Heaton.
In a way, drug addicts and recovering substance abusers have no future--at least to them. They use every fiber of their being to stop a descent that feels good to them--like a roller coaster at just the right speed. But when they want to stop, the ride wants to keep going and getting off gets even harder. They are trying to stop doing what they've gotten comfortable with in order to chase down a future that seems surreal and strange to them.
"No Future" pays respect to the fallen and the souls who pick up the pieces afterwards.
