Hellion features solid acting and striking cinematography, but its story might raise more questions than it answers.

by Evan Wood

Hellion was the opening film at the Citizen Jane Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri in early November. Writer and director Kat Candler was on hand afterward for an audience Q&A. Candler has directed ten films, both short and feature-length, since 2000, many of which were written by her. Two of her films, including Hellion, were nominated for grand jury awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

(photo taken outside of the Missouri Theater in Columbia, Missouri—the home of Citizen Jane)

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The first scene of Hellion is an incredibly loud and chaotic sequence. It cuts quickly between a fast-paced and physical football game and a group of kids destroying a truck just outside the stadium. It uses the atmosphere created by the crowd, players, and even the people standing on the sidelines to tremendous effect, as if to say “your safety belt must be fastened at all times throughout the remainder of the film.” But, like most flights you’ve been on, after the initial takeoff that sentiment ends up being more of a suggestion than a requirement.

That is not to say that the rest of Kat Candler’s Hellion is bereft of intensity. In its best moments, it is an intense drama with the cast, script, and cinematography all doing their part. Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis are, predictably, very good. But neither of them found breakthrough roles with their characters in Hellion. Josh Wiggins, however, not only stole the show, but delivers the best performance by a teenager in recent memory with his portrayal of Jacob, the troubled son of Paul’s character, Hollis.

Hellion is a tale of family, loss, coming of age, and the consequences—both fair and unfair—of its characters’ decisions. Hollis pays repeatedly for his failings as a father. Jacob pays for circumstances both in and out of his control. Early on Hollis takes away his dirt bike as punishment, which deprives him of mobility and freedom. But Jacob’s real struggle is coping with his father’s mixed performance as a parent. It is the ghost that perpetually haunts him and stokes the fire of his aggression. Meanwhile his younger brother Wes, played by Deke Garner, seems to have at once the least agency and the most uncertain future, represented mostly by his being taken to live with his benevolent aunt early in the film. Candler does a great job at portraying the nuanced consequences of this move.

Hellion’s script is characterized by restraint. While its characters venture into some intense scenarios, they rarely travel anywhere near the threshold of being unrealistic, which is a point in its favor. For example, when Jacob’s aspirations as a dirt biker are about to come to fruition, the film flirts with the idea of using this dream as a panacea to heal his family’s many ailments. But ultimately, the story is too grounded in reality to exploit that trope. Similarly, Aaron Paul’s Hollis is a character who seems ready to hit his troubled first-born at any moment, but never does. You have to give the film credit for earning all of the stakes it raises through its emotional performances and never-contrived dialogue. But you might feel as though that same restraint ends up preventing the film from saying much of anything—except that life in southeast Texas is pretty hard all around.

Though the script deserves some credit, you get the sense during certain scenes that the story is weighed down inexorably by events that exist outside of its borders. There are so many allusions to the central family’s troubled past, so much going on off-screen (even with its most peripheral characters), and a lot of uncertainty about the future. At times it feels more like an interlude than a story. 

But the shining moments come during simple family scenes around the dinner table, and during bouts of misguided aggression by both Hollis and Jacob. And they come when Jacob, Wes, and their friends are just being kids—a regular occurrence in this film, as Candler selected native Texas teens to play many of the supporting characters. The film consistently delivers striking visuals. It presents its world of dry ground and oil refineries in a way that is both approachable and engaging.

In fact, the film might be worth watching just for the last scene, which will have your mind anxious with anticipation and your eyes gorging on the tableaux that Candler was able to capture. Even if Hellion’s story isn’t all that it could have been, Candler has already proven her knack for filmmaking many times over. For true fans of cinema, a movie memorabilia auction might be the perfect way to find a tangible connection to such visually stunning films, with items that capture the essence of those unforgettable scenes.

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Evan Wood works as the Special Projects Editor at Missouri Life. You can find him on Twitter @EvanAllenWood.