A FALL FROM GRACE : Monday 13th April 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'A Fall from Grace' which I saw from the comfort of my sofa at home on Monday 13th April.

'A FALL FROM GRACE' - is an American thriller offering Directed, Written, Co-Produced and starring Tyler Perry which landed on Netflix in the US as an original film on 17th January 2020. The film was shot over the course of just five days, and as a consequence has been criticised for its lack of continuity and extras staring straight at the camera (case in point - observe two diners in the background as the main lead couple in the film enjoy their first date together at a restaurant). The film has garnered generally unfavourable reviews, and was according to Netflix statistics viewed by an audience of 26 million in its first week of screening on the streaming service.  

The film opens up with Police Officer on the beat Jordan Bryant (Matthew Law) who is seen one night attempting to coax an elderly woman down from the roof of a house where she is threatening to throw herself from. A helicopter emerges, shining a bright light on the woman, which prompts her to jump to her death. Early the next morning as day breaks, he climbs into bed and snuggles up to his wife, Jasmine (Bresha Webb), just as she wakes up to seize the day as a 26 year old recently graduated from law school attorney working for the Public Defenders Office.

Upon arriving at her place of work she is summonsed into the office by her boss, Rory Garraux (Tyler Perry) and handed a case file for one Grace Waters (Crystal Fox) who wants to plead guilty to the murder of her husband Shannon DeLong (Mehcad Brooks). Jasmine, who up until this point has only taken plea deals in her small town Virginia, visits Grace in prison to confirm her wish to plea bargain, and then to raise the necessary paperwork to that effect and to gain her signature. Grace's only request is that she be housed in a local prison so that she can remain close to her son Malcolm (Walter Fauntleroy) and his newborn child.

Jasmine, who is a bit of a wet blanket of a defence lawyer who has never tried a case before and lacks the fortitude, the resilience, and seemingly any ounce of experience is ready to roll over and push for the plea bargain, but the prosecuting lawyer Bradley Tankerton (Adrian Pasdar) will have none of it, claiming that she is guilty 110%, has confessed to the murder, and rightly deserves to be locked up for life. When confronted with a number of road blocks in the case all stacking up against Grace, she retreats within herself, cries like some spoiled child, seeks solace in her husband who basically tells her to toughen up, and is ready to give up her law career before it's even started!

As Jasmine digs deeper in to the case she is troubled by the pattern of blood pooling at the bottom of the stairs leading down to Grace's basement, plus the fact that Shannon's body was never recovered. Rory meanwhile, becomes increasingly agitated by Jasmine's belief that Grace may in fact be innocent after all, but presses the young attorney to pursue the signed confession so that the case can be wound up. His office does not have the funding to pursue a court case, and doesn't need the media frenzy who already by the court of public opinion has found Grace guilty as all hell. He visits Grace in prison with Jasmine to push for her to sign, by which time, Grace has made up her mind to have her day in court at the hands of the inexperienced still wet behind the ears Jasmine.

Jasmine, visits the home of Grace's best friend Sarah Miller (Phylicia Rashad), who recounts in flashbacks that following Grace's divorce she became more introverted, withdrawn and sorrowful for her current circumstances as a middle aged woman. Sarah urged Grace to get out, live a little and maybe she'll meet someone new. This leads her to the opening night of a photographic exhibition at a local art gallery where she meets Shannon, the exhibitor of his photographic works of Ethiopia. He almost immediately homes in on Grace, with his suave, sophisticated words and compliments. At first Grace keeps her distance, but Shannon showers her with roses, photos from his exhibit, wine, dinner, constant compliments, and eventually she falls for his charming ways. In three months the pair get married and for a short while their lives are all sunshine and rainbows.

Gradually Shannon's charming ways give way to cruelty as he seemingly keeps secrets from her. Grace is fired instantly from her long standing and respected job at the bank when it is discovered that some US$350K is missing from the accounts she manages. Thinking someone has stolen her identity, Grace soon discovers that Shannon has stolen from her accounts using her passwords, and has also mortgaged her house to the tune of US$370K with forged documents. When confronted with this, Shannon's retorts that he needed the money to pay off some debts, and that Grace's house is now their house, and in this State, when a couple are married all wealth and assets pass into joint names and as such he had every right to remortgage the house. When Grace and Sarah visit a lawyer seeking advice and guidance about prosecuting Shannon, they are told that any case will take years to come to court, cost a small fortune, with no certainty over the outcome.

The last straw comes when Grace arrives home to find Shannon in their bed with another woman, and he forces Grace out of the room asking for their privacy. He parades the young woman down the stairs in front of Grace like some trophy, with the woman saying that she never realised that your mother would be home, and next time to make sure she is out of the house. That evening as Shannon is sat in the lounge talking smugly at Grace with his back to her, Grace becomes increasingly angry and beats Shannon with a baseball bat multiple times over the head splattering his blood all over the place and all over her too. She then throws his limp lifeless body down the stairs into her basement. Grace then drives for hours into the middle of nowhere to call her friend Sarah and tell her she killed her husband.

Sarah further explains that following that phone call she went to Grace's house and witnessed her son Malcolm leaving the house. She found Shannon's body to be missing, believing that Malcolm helped Grace dispose of it somewhere in remote bushland. In court, Jasmine fails miserably at proving that Grace is innocent. Calling Sarah as a witness backfires because the prosecution reveals phone records showing numerous phone calls between the women on the night of the murder. Jasmine tries to claim that the phone records are inadmissible because she had no prior knowledge of their existence, but the prosecutor alleges that she did and that she just overlooked them. A decision that the Judge upholds in favour of the prosecutor. Sarah finally admits in the witness box after repeated questioning that Grace confessed to killing Shannon to her. Grace is found, hardly surprisingly, guilty by the jury.

Feeling sorry for herself, Jasmine stops by Sarah's house which also doubles as a residence for old ladies and notices that an elderly frail and confused woman named Alice (Cicely Tyson) is trying to flee from the house. Alice wants to leave, but Jasmine ushers her back inside. Alice reveals that other women have died there, including Shane Fieldman (Jordan's victim from the beginning of the film, and the real photographer behind the exhibition where Grace first met Shannon). Jasmine hears a sound coming from the basement and goes off to investigate. There she discovers there are numerous elderly women all shackled and chained up in the basement. She is grappled from behind, tied up and gagged and locked in a small room. Jordan meanwhile is sent various files to his patrol cars on board computer revealing Sarah's criminal history, and hurriedly goes off in search for his wife. Shannon turns out to be alive and further that he is Sarah's son. Jordan bursts into the house, grapples with Sarah, handcuffs her and then searches for Jasmine as Sarah makes her obvious getaway, albeit cuffed. Jordan and Shannon fight in the darkened basement as Jasmine tries to break free. Shannon is shot at close range three times in the chest by Jasmine who has broken free from her restraints, and is presumably dead, second time around, as a result.

Shortly after, the Police arrive and the elderly ladies are all freed. Grace is released from jail with a full pardon and an apology from the court, and is reunited with her son Malcolm. Jasmine's work on the case is applauded by her colleagues, the media and her boss Rory. Sarah and Shannon’s real names are revealed to be Betty and Maurice Mills, and or the past twenty years the two have been conning older women out of their money and social security across numerous States, and that Maurice is wanted in various States for bigamy.

'A Fall from Grace' certainly grabs the attention from the get go, but, for all the wrong reasons! Jasmine is so half baked, so lacking in confidence, so unwise and unknowing to the point that her ineptitude and just go with the flow attitude is laughable. The story twists and turns verge from the sublime to the ridiculous as Perry seems intent on throwing every conceivable obstacle and plot development at his cast of largely downtrodden Black characters who must have been racing against the clock every time the camera rolled to complete their lines so that the Writer/Director could shout 'cut'. And as for the courtroom drama at the centre of this film, that is delivered in a predictable by the numbers manner that anyone could see coming from ten miles away - there are certainly no surprises here. When the end finally comes it's a hurried affair that quickly lunges into horror territory without delivering on any scares, but by the end of its two hour run time, it can't really come quickly enough. And lets not mention the extras again in the background, or the shonky set design, or the lack of attention to detail that is all heightened by Perry's desire to wrap this shoot in under a week - and it shows!

'A Fall from Grace' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-