“Small Engine Repair” – Not broken [MOVIE REVIEW]
Ciara Bravo as Crystal and John Pollano as Frank in “Small Engine Repair.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.
“Small Engine Repair,” written and directed by John Pollano is a gem on many different levels. Almost episodic in nature, the seemingly divergent storylines build tension in their disconnects until, at the end, they come together almost seamlessly to enhance what came before.
Beginning life as a play, first performed in 2011at Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles, Small Engine Repair then premiered Off Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York in 2013. I am not a disinterested party. Although I regrettably did not see the theater production, I soon after became a member of the board at Rogue Machine where Pollano, a co-founder, continues to be an active member. He recently joined the board.
My admiration for this film stands apart from any personal connection I might have at present.
We meet Frank Romanowski, owner of the repair shop, as he is released from prison, having served many years for assault. Resolved to turn over a new leaf, he returns home to resume business and try to be a better father to his now teenaged daughter Crystal, a high school senior. Their relationship has always been fraught. As a single parent (Crystal’s mother is an alcoholic and addict who has never failed to disappoint and abandon her), Frank has tried to be there but his short fuse always destroys any détente between them. Crystal is excited. She has a chance to leave Manchester (New Hampshire) and go to UCLA. Not recognizing the opportunity for his daughter and the work, against all odds, it took to achieve that, he insists she go to the local U to save money. It is his coterie of close friends, Swaino and Packie, on whom he has relied over the years, that convince him that Crystal’s admission to UCLA is grounds for major celebration.
Unfortunately, their first get together in a bar is a disaster. Frank’s temper is again the cause and he barely escapes the bar before the police arrive. Making matters worse, his ex, Crystal’s mother, shows up wanting to spend time with her daughter. A fraught situation becomes electric. Everyone has had it with Frank.
Flash forward three months and Frank reaches out to Swaino and Packie, asking them to meet him at the shop for a special evening. Also invited is Chad Walker, a blue blood Ivy League student who dabbles in drug dealing.
Jon Bernthal as Swaino and Shea Whigham as Packie in “Small Engine Repair.” Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.
No more will be revealed, but suffice it to say that close ties, bad circumstances, and seemingly random relationships come together to bind Frank, his temper, his fraught relationship with his daughter, his best friends, the entitled college student, and the ex-wife into an explosive tragic-comic ending that will keep you tied to your seat.
Pollano has given us vivid characters who, as Crystal puts it, are, if not low class, “hanging from the lowest rung on the lower-middle-class ladder.” With the exception of Crystal, all the adults are arrested development products of their up-bring by abusive, alcoholic, punishing parents. That only Frank has done time is a modern miracle.
Pollano’s Frank is a simmering pinched nerve of barely concealed rage. His good intentions toward his daughter never land the first time; always preceded by disapproval. Perhaps the smartest of the three amigos, his intelligence has always been buried by his uncontrollable anger.
Jon Bernthal (“King Richard, “Ford Versus Ferrari”), reprising his role in the original theatrical production, is Swaino, the man-child whose womanizing is a constant source of tension. Bernthal hits just the right note of good guy, loyal friend, and total idiot. Shea Whigham (“Joker”) portrays Packie as something of a cypher. With flashes of brilliance, Whigham’s Packie is a sidelines observer, never committing to action but not backing out of fraught situations when he should; more loyal through inertia than active support. Watch Whigham’s eyes and all will be revealed.
Jordana Spiro (“Ozark”) is Karen Delgado, Crystal’s mother. Spiro is almost unidentifiable as the lush who contributes to the unstable atmosphere even when she’s not present. She is a volcano one moment and a crater the next. Her eventual transformation is believable and key to the volatile finish of this thriller. As Crystal, Ciara Bravo (“Cherry”) is the quintessential teenager full of simmering anger and hopefulness. And in a tiny role that best illustrates how even small moments are important to character development, Jennifer Pollano plays Frank’s first hook-up. As eager for sex as he is, their dance toward the sheets is interrupted when her toddler wakes up. When she doesn’t return in a few minutes, Frank peeks into the child’s room to spy Dottie, arms around her child in his car bed, sound asleep. That missed opportunity reveals the inherent decency and longing in both of them. Having seen her act on stage many times, there are no lost moments with Jen’s interpretations.
Pollano as director keeps the action going even when you have no idea where. That the ending works, and believe me it does, is a tribute the performances he got from his actors, the tautness of the situations, and most of all from his script that opened up the action from the single set of the play to the underclass areas of Manchester, NH, which serves to highlight the haves vs. the have-nots.
Streaming January on Hulu.