Blu-Ray Review: Cold In July

By Less Lee Moore

It’s best not to know a whole lot about the plot going into Jim Mickle’s latest film Cold In July. If you haven’t read the Joe R. Lansdale novel upon which the movie is based (like me), try not to form any preconceived notions from the tag line or cover art and just go with it. If you’re about ten minutes in and thinking, “Damn, this is just a whole bunch of stalker-revenge movie clichés that aren’t really doing it for me,” keep watching. There’s no M. Night Shyamalan-style twist, just a lot of well-crafted narrative turns that will keep your attention even after the movie ends. It’s that good, and easily the best of Mickle’s last three films.

DP Ryan Samul is back behind the camera, providing the beautiful framing and striking color palette we’ve come to expect from Mickle’s films: it doesn’t overwhelm or come across as showy, but it is exquisite. You couldn’t ask for a better cast than Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and (yes), Don Johnson, and all three embody their roles with subtle perfection.

Although Cold In July is, in part, a revenge movie, it’s also a movie about family, fatherhood, and a crisis of masculinity. Don’t roll your eyes; this isn’t a Robert Bly retreat, and the women in the film are not shrieking harpies. Again, it’s best to watch the permutations of these ideas weave their way through the narrative and ponder them for a while. Cold In July is also terrifically funny, but not in a thigh-slapping way. It’s the kind of humor that comes from real people doing real things and making real mistakes in the process. Like Jeremy Saulnier’s also-excellent Blue Ruin, there’s an organic earnestness to these characters that makes them much more interesting than the sum of their flaws.

Cold In July takes place in East Texas in 1989, with all of the fashion foibles that time and location would imply, but it’s not clichéd. It’s all underplayed and spot-on, from Hall’s mini-mullet to the plethora of Mexican restaurants. The only factor that might seem out of place is the score from long-time Mickle composer Jeff Grace, whose John Carpenter-inspired music comes on a little strong at times, but is actually perfect when viewed from the perspective of Hall’s character, who might feel like he’s in a real-life Carpenter film most of the time, anyway.

Although the plot and characters might carry the faintest whiff of the first season of True Detective, with its modern, Southern Noir undertones and gripping suspense, this is much less dark and dense. It’s utterly believable and down-to-earth, yet at the same time, over-the-top in a way that feels genuine. It’s a terrific example of modern American filmmaking and will probably make it into a lot of Top Ten lists this year, including mine.

Cold In July was released on Blu-Ray by IFC Films on September 30. The Special Features include cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes with optional commentary, early pre-visualization tests, the isolated Jeff Grace score, and the trailer.