Divergence
Patrick J. Donnelly
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Plot Summary
Divergence is a critically acclaimed official entry in over 12 international film festivals. Critics have described it as the best narrative feature describing how America has struggled with 9/11. Divergence tells the tale of two wounded people coming together and grappling with the ramifications of war and loss. Set in a picturesque seaside town on the Jersey shores in the midst of a cold and bitter winter, we are introduced to Tim Lawson, a wounded, disillusioned veteran of the Iraq war who returns to his hometown, in an attempt to reclaim a simpler time in his life after experiencing the horrors of war. By chance he meets Clare O'Neil, a model-beautiful woman whose life has been turned upside down by a fatal accident, forever bonding her personal loss to a nation's sorrow. She now hides away in a secluded beach house having all but given up on the world. When a fateful event brings the two of them together, they are drawn to each other in a common bond by their experiences. As their relationship becomes increasingly more passionate, they must make decisions that will make profound effect on the rest of their lives.
Customer Reviews
horrible
....acting is horrendous
Award Winning Film
Winner Staten Island International Film Festival Best Narrative Feature
Winner The GI Film Festival Best Narrative Feature
Winner The DIY Film Festival Best Feature
Winner Jersey Shore Film Festival Jury Award
Winner Long Island International Film Festival Best Narrative Feature
Nominated Best Actor and Actress The Method Fest
Official Selection The Avignon Film Festival
1
Variety Review:
By Lisa Nesselson (Reviewed at Avignon Film Festival, France.)
An affecting portrait of two wounded souls healing as best they can on the New Jersey Shore in early 2003, "Divergence" boasts nuanced, quietly devastating perfs by relative newcomers Traci Ann Wolfe and Jakob Hawkins. Profoundly American in its evocation of duty and personal responsibility, pic also allows that there's such a thing as grief that sheer gumption can't remedy. The specter of America's presence in Iraq colors every frame. First pic by d.p. Patrick J. Donnelly shows talent all around. Lanky U.S. Army airborne helicopter pilot Tim Lawson (Hawkins) shows up on his chilly, sparsely populated home turf. On temporary leave due to a bad leg wound, Tim isn't terribly talkative with his more voluble pal, Dave (Ben Hindell).
Thanks to perky realtor Heidi Lipton (Marci Adilman, nailing an American archetype), Tim rents a beach cottage in which to recuperate and reflect. His neighbor is Clare O'Neil (Traci Ann Wolfe), who is grappling with at-first-unspecified grief, possibly related to the events of Sept. 11, but maybe not.
Lithe, blonde, good-boned Clare is cover-girl pretty and far from dumb, but unable to make sense of the overwhelming, senseless loss that has turned her life inside out. It emerges that she left a handsome home to drown her sorrow in alcohol -- so as not to drown herself, if the way she stares at the mighty tides at all hours is any indication.
Living with grief that refuses to be subsumed in distraction, central protags have been thrown off course. By proxy, the pic illuminates in small, relevant ways, how the nation itself has presumably veered off course in recent years.
With it's delicate, tentative rhythms and spare dialogue, narrative both bucks and embraces the notion of "getting on with" one's life in the wake of tragedy.
Stand-out scenes include Tim's visit to his father in a retirement home, Tim's domestic helicopter outing with his former employer who served in Vietnam, and Clare's tense meeting with her patrician mother who cares for her daughter, but may care about appearances more.
Unhurried yet suspenseful venture may strike some as needlessly downbeat, but pic's choice to often let dismay trump solace is what gives it its strength.
Camera (color, HD), Donnelly; editor, Robert Mead; music, Ronen Landa; art director, Brandon Cheek; set decorator, Adrina Garibian; costume designer, Lynne Curtis; sound (Dolby), Justin Gray; assistant director, Yori Tondrowski. Reviewed at Avignon Film Festival (competing), June 22, 2007. Running time: 113 MIN.
A 21st CENTURY "COMING HOME" ; ONE OF THE BEST POST 9/11 FILMS TO DATE
George Schmidt Movie Freak.com
The war drama has been around as long as man has been fighting man – or so it seems at least on the silver screen. Each war has its definitive cinematic portrayal about the aftermath and homecoming of its combatants, forever changed by his or her experiences on the battlefield and the constant tug of consciousness of accepting the term of hero or patriot; or not.
The latest endeavor by newcomer filmmaker Patrick J. Donnelly, " DIVERGENCE", combines many of the elements of its subgenre – the wounded vet retuning to his hometown much for the worse trying to fit back into the groove of society while attempting to process the aftershocks of his experience while trying to find a reason for it all – in this Iraq War drama about Tim Lawson (Jakob Hawkins), a chopper pilot who has sustained a leg injury causing him to return stateside to heal until his preliminary check-up to ascertain if he is suitable to return to the warfront. Tim is a mild-mannered, quiet and deeply in pain young man whose return to his NJ Shore hamlet finds himself reunited with his best friend Dave (Ben Hindell), a self-employed contractor and his attorney girlfriend Jill (Jeannine Kaspar), who help him find a realtor to rent a bungalow until his scheduled physical.
Accolades were out of Sympathy
This movie didn't not earn any of its accolades by merit of what the film truly is.
I don't know how you can call silent love scenes and people staring at eachother for minutes at a time art.
Not worth time or money..
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