Galveston  ★★★

AMERICAN crime noir Galveston is a minor film with an exceptional pedigree.

It’s the first English language film by French director Melanie Luarent, whose previous three films have been widely praised, is based on a novel by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of television’s True Detective series, and stars two fine actors in Ben Foster and Elle Fanning.

The publicity suggests a dark, grimy drama and that’s exactly what you get, albeit exceptionally shot and edited and focusing on two key character studies.

That being said, the film’s short running time and at times hard-to-decipher dialogue does impede a full understanding of the character motivations, perhaps giving a clue as to why Pizzolatto was unhappy with the final result and used the pseudonym Jim Hammett for his writing credit.

The film is set in 1988. Once again Foster (Leave No Trace, Hostiles, Hell or High Water) is exceptionally good as the lead character Roy Cady, a New Orleans hitman who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He is keeping the condition from his boss (nicely played by Beau Bridges) and his former girlfriend, who is now his boss’s partner.

Cady is sent on a seemingly straight-forward job that goes horribly wrong, leaving him double-crossed, hunted by the police and marked for death by the mob. He winds up with teenager Raquel ‘Rocky’ Arceneaux and her baby sister Tiffany reluctantly in tow as he tries to make his way back to Galveston seeking revenge.

The description probably makes the film sound a little more straight-forward and exciting than it is. This is a very atmospheric and moody piece that is photographed and acted in a naturalistic style that requires a lot of attention to dialogue and what is occurring within and around each scene.

Elle Fanning, the younger sister of Dakota, probably gives her best performance yet as the teenager Rocky who sees some possibility of redemption in Rocky from a sad life that has spiralled out of control. Her character’s arc is genuinely moving and provides a much-needed heart to the film.

Laurent ultimately pulls no punches in portraying the lasting impacts of a life in crime and the result is menacing and powerful in its imagery.

But, reading the film’s official Wikipedia entry, it’s obvious that some of the character detail in Pizzolatto’s original story is not clear and this may leave some viewers more than a little unsatisfied.