Director/writer: Christopher Ward | Rated: n/a (suggestive themes) | Review date: 18-Jan-2010

Person of Interest is writer/director Christopher Ward’s debut effort that follows a series of missing person cases within a small New England town. Sheriff Nickie Welles, played by Elise Rovinsky, puts every effort she has into solving the cases. Driven by the potential loss of her job, she’ll stop at nothing to figure out who’s been causing the town so much horror. Nickie enlists the help of James Hart (Cuyle Carvin), a local psychic. The townspeople, especially Nickie’s lover Detective Sandra Franks (Julie Bell), are less than enthused about James’ involvement. Sticking to her gut, the sheriff moves forward with James in hopes to solve what could be her last case before the station is shut down.

The characters were fairly interesting, although they lacked some depth. The acting all around is a tab bit overdone, which is to be expected with the fairly inexperienced actors. This was perhaps my only main complaint of the movie. I felt many of the actors focused too much on reciting their lines word for word which resulted in a lack of a personal, more authentic touch to their characters. Due to the lower budget and experience level of the performers, this was forgivable and did not draw my attention away from the story. The main standouts for me were Rovinsky and Carvin, who show a lot of definite potential.

The story is fairly basic and the director wastes no time giving it to us straight. We have a classic small town mystery story, only turned up a notch with a lesbian romance and a dose of social commentary. One of the film’s underlying messages was the acceptance of homosexuality in society, which I thought was conveyed very well. Rather than force it down our throats, the director casually revealed society’s intolerance and focused on showing us the lives of a gay couple and their personal and professional struggles.  This aspect was not overdone and added an interesting angle to an otherwise basic plot. Additionally, there are also a few minor reflections of the economic situation that certainly many of us can relate to on some level.

I felt this film had a lot of potential to do more with the storyline than it did. It would have been nice to see a little bit more depth to the characters. We only have a few very short sequences where characters reveal things about themselves, and a few truths about them are brought up so abruptly they’re almost looked over. A few occurrences towards the end of the film were tied to facts presented earlier which were easily forgettable. The mystery of the story would have also been better enhanced if we had a few more evident clues presented throughout the story. The ending was not quite expected, but once it got there it almost felt too obvious.

Despite the few attributes I felt the film lacked, this was overall a very enjoyable drama. The story had a few good things going for it that most mainstream films tend to shy away from. Though there isn’t anything completely profound going on, the film still manages to keep one’s attention to the end and even at times manages to make us feel for the main characters. The underlying commentary of the film is what really made it stand out for me. It reflects how many parts of society are still intolerant of different lifestyles and sheds more light on the individuals and their every day struggles. In the end Person of Interest tells an average small town crime story with a few nice twists. Though I felt it could have been stronger in some areas, I still believe this is a very entertaining mystery and a great feature debut effort for Christopher Ward.

IMDb | Trailer

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