For quite a spell there - circa 1984 - heavy metal music was all about big hair and Satan, though not necessarily in that order. Low on budget but grading out sky high in its storytelling, Kevin Doherty's "Black Bridge" brings us back to those halcyon days of studded leather accouterments and the condemnations of overwrought PTA moms in this immensely compelling period piece.
Metal and the small town Midwest have long known each other intimately, and here six teenagers embody that torrid love affair with the ideal curation of '80s headbanger t-shirts and grass-baked ruminations on human sacrifice. It's all good, dark, innocuous fun, until a couple outliers take things to a blacker plane. A young boy is found mutilated, and with that, "Black Bridge" shrewdly pivots, becoming a wholly immersive film in which intensity and tragedy swirl under the spotlight of ratcheting media supposition.
By the time its credits roll, "Black Bridge" has somehow treated us to a series of expertly told stories converging into a surprisingly emotional, complex, and darkly funny movie -- and all brought to its full realization by a literally banging soundtrack. An under-the-radar, grassroots gem. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
Metal and the small town Midwest have long known each other intimately, and here six teenagers embody that torrid love affair with the ideal curation of '80s headbanger t-shirts and grass-baked ruminations on human sacrifice. It's all good, dark, innocuous fun, until a couple outliers take things to a blacker plane. A young boy is found mutilated, and with that, "Black Bridge" shrewdly pivots, becoming a wholly immersive film in which intensity and tragedy swirl under the spotlight of ratcheting media supposition.
By the time its credits roll, "Black Bridge" has somehow treated us to a series of expertly told stories converging into a surprisingly emotional, complex, and darkly funny movie -- and all brought to its full realization by a literally banging soundtrack. An under-the-radar, grassroots gem. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
