This is the story of a father trying to deal with the loss of his daughter in a school shooting and the security guard who froze and allowed it to happen.
Director Hariharasudhen Nagarajan and writer Anghus Houvouras's TETHER is a thought provoking look at the aftermath of the all too common occurance of a school shooting. The film goes beyond the typical stories we see in the media. There are no easy answers. More importantly people don't instantly get over the bad things that happen to them. People are broken weeks after the fact. Even the "bad guy" authorities who didn't act are not what the media or social media present them as. Nagarajan and Houvouras have made a film that is important and should be seen because of how it peels back the layers on an important issue of our time. We clearly see the casualties beyond those struck by bullets.
At the same time I need to warn you that as good as the writing and directing is the performances are a step or two down. While the leads are adequete they never fully sell the grief and pain the way they should have. When the final confrontation occurs it doesn't soar because neither actor feels as fully invested in what is happening. Yes, how they are acting is good, but it doesn't feel as though it is being lived. I wanted to be broken and I wasn't.
My quibbles on the acting aside Nagaranjan and Houvouras have made an important film. It's a film that grabs you and forces you to consider what is happening to those left behind. It wonderfully does not give answers but instead, and more importantly it gives us the room to ponder the on going national tragedy in ways that the regular media and other films have not given us.
Recommended.
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