{"id":22021,"date":"2021-01-21T15:53:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T23:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22021"},"modified":"2021-01-21T15:53:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T23:53:43","slug":"no-mans-land-is-well-meaning-but-unfocused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22021","title":{"rendered":"NO MAN\u2019S LAND is Well-Meaning, But Unfocused"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/24_0006_C+-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7079\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This feature from IFC Films opens in select theaters, on\ndigital platforms and VOD on January 22<sup>nd<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new film <em>No Man\u2019s Land<\/em> is one of the most earnest\nfeatures to come around the bend in some time.&nbsp;\nIt\u2019s a neo-western dealing with the US immigrant situation that shares\nthe experiences of people from different backgrounds. This title benefits from\na committed cast, although it soon becomes clear that the filmmakers are biting\noff more than they can chew. There are definitely moments that will help viewers\nfeel empathy for all the parties involved, but its story eventually suffers\nfrom being pulled in too many different directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/no-mans-land-05-fixed-1024x629.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22023\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jackson Greer (Jake Allyn) is young man hoping to play professional\nbaseball. He returns from school to visit his family\u2019s Texas cattle ranch on\nthe Mexican border. While there, his conservative parents (Andie MacDowell and Frank\nGrillo) and brother Lucas (Alex MacNicoll) complain about immigrants passing\nthrough their property. One night, while riding into \u201cno man\u2019s land\u201d between\nthe countries to find lost animals, family members cross paths with Gustavo (Jorge\nA. Jimenez), a kind \u201cshepherd\u201d leading a group across the border. A fracas\nensues in which Jackson shoots and kills a young boy (Alessio Valentini). Jackson\u2019s\ndad tries to cover for his son\u2019s actions, but Texas Ranger Ramirez (George\nLopez) knows that their story doesn\u2019t add up. Guilt-ridden, the young man rides\ninto Mexico as an illegal alien. In the process, he finds himself being targeted\nby a revenge-seeking Gustavo and his employer Luis (Andr\u00e9s Delgado), a \u201ccoyote\u201d\nor human smuggler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/no-mans-land-03-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22024\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As mentioned, the movie is incredibly well-meaning in its\nattempts to detail the hardships of those making the dangerous journey across\nthe border. Jackson is an innocent who doesn\u2019t grasp the difficulties other\nexperience. That is, until he goes through the process first hand and is forced\nto work illegally at a job well below his skill set. The movie is\nnone-too-subtle and the characters state some of the themes explicitly, but at\nleast the cast manage to sell some of these awkward passages. In particular,\nJimenez stands out as a character experiencing a variety of emotions over his\nloss, including rage and despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/no-mans-land-04-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22025\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But despite the solid work onscreen, these are certainly\nproblems with this overly ambitious story. It literally wants to address with every\npossible aspect of its subject and spreads itself too thin. There are so many\nstory threads, its difficult to figure out who the protagonist is early on. The\nmovie jumps around from Jackson and his story, to \u201cshepherd\u201d Gustavo and his job,\nthe Greer family and ensuing drama involving brother Lucas, Texas Ranger\nRamirez\u2019s attempts to investigate the crime, as well as Gustavo\u2019s and Luis\u2019s hunt\nfor Jackson. And that isn\u2019t even every story thread. There are so many plotlines\nhere that the movie doesn\u2019t have the time to give them all the proper\nconsideration and examination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/no-mans-land-06-fixed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22026\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It all becomes difficult to suspend disbelief when Jackson decides\nto make amends for the shooting and find his way to the home town of the\nvictim. Thanks to some remarkably convenient timing, he and many of the supporting\ncharacters all find themselves confronting each other at a funeral. It feels\nlike a stretch and far too speedy a resolution. The movie would have benefitted\nfrom tossing aside some of its subplots, focusing on fewer elements and\ndeveloping what remained in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be fair, one admires the ambition on display, the\nperformances are solid and the movie is commendable in its efforts to help and\nbring its characters together in order to better understand one another.\nUnfortunately, <em>No Man\u2019s Land<\/em> takes on too much in the process and as a\nresult is unfocused, leaving its most intriguing and enlightening elements in\nneed of further development.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This feature from IFC Films opens in select theaters, on digital platforms and VOD on January 22nd. The new film No Man\u2019s Land is one of the most earnest features to come around the bend in some time.&nbsp; It\u2019s a neo-western dealing with the US immigrant situation that shares the experiences of people from different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,970,1047,1354,1372,3320,6251,7517,7836,8195,9482,9689,10177,11023,13735,14305,14952,14955,14956,14957,19787],"class_list":["post-22021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-alex-macnicoll","tag-alien","tag-andie-macdowell","tag-andres-delgado","tag-border-crossing","tag-drama","tag-film","tag-frank-grillo","tag-george-lopez","tag-human-smuggling","tag-immigration","tag-jake-allyn","tag-jorge-a-jimenez","tag-mexico","tag-movie","tag-no-mans-land","tag-no-mans-land-film-review","tag-no-mans-land-movie-review","tag-no-mans-land-review","tag-texas"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}