Black Flies
Young paramedic Ollie Cross is partnered with experienced medic Rutkovsky, who thrusts him into the harsh realities of New York’s inner-city streets. Amidst high crime rates, homelessness, and widespread drug use, Ollie finds his perspective on life and death beginning to shift.
- Released:
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Thrillers
- Stars: Tye Sheridan, Katherine Waterston, Kali Reis, Onie Maceo Watlington, Raquel Nave, Mike Tyson, Michael Pitt, Sean Penn, Alisa Mironova, Robert Oppel, Donna Glaesener, Decater James, Charrisse Matthews, Kareemeh Odeh
- Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
Comments
- IonicBreezeMachine - 12 May 2024
Sheridan and Penn do well as the leads, but a meandering feel and lingering focus on shock make Asphalt City a numbing experience
Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan) is a rookie paramedic working the night shift for the FDNY while prepping to retake the MCAT. Partnered with jaded veteran paramedic Gene "Rut" Rutkovsky (Sean Penn), Ollie dives into the darkest scenarios the city has to offer providing care and saving lives as the pressure and stress builds.
Asphalt City comes to us from director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (previously of A Prayer Before Dawn) and is written by Ryan King and Ben Mac Brown which is adapted from the book Black Flies by Shannon Burke. The screenplay for the film appeared on the black list of best unproduced screenplays back in 2018 and assembled a high profile cast when the project came together. Released in a mostly quiet manner following a mixed reception at Cannes (complete with a title change to Asphalt City from the original Black Flies), while I applaud the ambition of the film it's unrelenting ugliness makes for a hollow experience when it feels like it's in service of little else than vicarious misery.
I'll say this for the film in that it's well directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire whose take on the streetlevel view of New York is reminiscent of the more gritty films of the 70s like The Hospital or any of Paul Schrader's films. The film also assembles a solid cast with Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, and Michael Pitt proven performers who fully commit to their roles but beneath the interchangeable scenes of ugliness and misery it's undeniable that there's little else the film is saying other than paramedics see the worst of humanity.
Asphalt City doesn't really have characters so much as it has barely defined constructs who are defined primarily by one trait alone which is hammered in with the subtly of a hammer into an anvil. There's nothing all that much to Ollie Cross other than being an in over his head rookie with greater aspirations and even his relationship with a woman named Clara (whose name is never spoken in movie) feels more tangential and like it could've been cut from the film with nothing of value lost. The same can be said for Sean Penn's take on Rut who's solely defined by being a burnt out veteran and that's pretty much where the characterization stops and starts. But while Sheridan and Penn are stuck in blank roles, Michael Pitt is wasted in a performance that calls on him to be such a transparently evil paramedic, in a character whose so over the top in his nastiness and cruelty it makes you wonder why he hasn't been fired. I have no problem with dark films and some of my favorite films have been dark character studies or thrillers of dialed up intensity, but with Asphalt City it feels like two hours of rubber necking at the worst sights the filmmakers have to offer and an overly uplifting ending played to ethereal music which culminated in a "dedication" to EMS workers made me want to vomit more than any of the gore and ugliness the movie had wallowed in up to that point.
I really did not like Asphalt City and any praise I can give to this movie is directed more towards the performances and technical rather than the hollow cynicism on display throughout the punishing two hour runtime. The movie doesn't say anything that wasn't said better in the Martin Scorsese/Paul Schrader film Brining out the Dead over 25 years ago and you can get more value out of your average first responder procedural on network television than you can from the dark abyss that is this film. - BoBo_Goal32 - 28 April 2024
Rough on the edges
I've seen the grade, then saw Sean Penn, then Tye Sheridan and then it was a done deal. Also read an interview with Sheridan, that talked about this film, how was it made and how was it to work with a massive actor as Penn. All got me and with this load I got started to watch this movie.
The beginning of it is characterized by many explorations and trying to reach the viewer and to insert him into the day-to-day life of two paramedics. One is young, the other had his mile and they are both struggling to save lives. Sometimes also with their environment.
The struggle is not just with the high pressure to arrive to the scene of action, the struggle is also to absorb what you see on a daily basis, regarding the impact of the cases has on the paramedics and sometimes the impact manifested by trying to be invulnerable to what the surrounding of the people that are getting the treatment and how they are treating their guardian angels.
It is a movie with a high pulse reaction of the viewer. It is speaking about a transparent people, that don't get their recognition. They say it multiple times, that they don't get a single "thank you", but a lot of other "wishes" and offensive words and behavior are flowing down the drain.
The movie Zigs and Zags between hard field cases and private area of the scarred people that live on each and every day with another, hard to watch of talk about, cases. At the final act the Zig and Zag will collide, in order to give the movie its meaning, but it seems that Sheridan and his company made a great job of learning the material from top to bottom.
The cast is top notch - except Sheridan and Penn, we've got a cameo performances of Mike Tyson and rising star - Kali Reis ["True Detective 4"] and a superb short supporting performance of Michael Pitt, that sometimes felt like Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden.
At last; Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's work is absolutely fantastic with a cold and rough dive into the very hard parts of New York City, from a different angle and perspective. It is well crafted director's work, that takes his camera man through the various angles of the city and emphasize its colors and especially those that he is treating them well through the whole movie.
Fantastic movie and it is great to sometimes not to believe the first grade you see to a movie - you might like it in the end, like me and a lot of others. Don't miss another Huge performance from Tye Sheridan and his deputy - Sean Penn. It's a powerful piece of work. - I-love-Popcorn - 21 April 2024
Very Intense and Raw
The movie is based on a 2008 novel called Black Flies by Shannon Burke. The story is based on the author's experiences as a NYC Fire Department paramedic in mid-'90s Harlem - *during the crack epidemics!*
The narrative: During 2 hours we follow the response to dramatic and chaotic 911 medical emergency calls of two paramedics in NYC who risk their lives trying to do their best to save the lives of the victims and struggle to keep their mental sanity.
The legendary Sean Penn is an edgy and desensitized veteran medic who has seen it all. He is paired to work with a rookie partner played by the talented Tye Sheridan (from Texas), who has been recently transferred and who is studying for the MCAT exam to study medicine. Their captain is played by Mike Tyson.
The heavy premise aside, the movie has brilliant acting and fantastic cinematography: Intense sound design and anxiety-inducing camera experience through hand-held focused close-up shots and lens flares at night.
The movie is a reflection on lived experiences and ethics of the EMS profession - it also sheds light on mental health and the day-to-day reality of hardships of human life.
It is dark, raw, and intense but very authentic and deep: I loved it!
