Chin (2018)

Directed by: Jonathan Baker, Josh Baker | 103 minutes | drama, crime, science fiction, thriller | Actors: Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, Dennis Quaid, Zoë Kravitz, James Franco, Carrie Coon, Ian Matthews, Gavin Fox, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Lukas Penar, Carleigh Beverly, Lily Gao, Michael B. Jordan

Kin is about fourteen-year-old Eli (Myles Truitt). The teenager comes from a loving family, where a single father (Dennis Quaid) with honest hard work just makes ends meet. Mother passed away not so long ago. Eli often gets into a fight at school (for good reasons, of course) and the fact that he illegally collects scrap metal from abandoned construction sites for sale is not something Father Hal is happy about. To make matters worse, Hal’s adult son, Jimmy (Jack Reynor), has just been released from prison. Father and (eldest) son are soon at loggerheads. The fact that Jimmy owes some criminals money doesn’t really help either.

Just before that, Eli made a special and eerie discovery in a remote factory hall. A number of soldiers – fully dressed in some sort of futuristic robot outfit – lie in front of pampus or even beheaded in the dark. Eli finds a great looking weapon and takes it with him. Chances are he will need this soon…

‘Kin’ is a special genre mix of family drama, coming-of-age, road trip and action, with science fiction elements. Seasoned commercial makers and (twin) brothers Jonathan and Josh Baker have adapted one of their first short films, ‘Bag Man’ into a full-length feature film, and thought the family part was the most important. This pays off in the scenario, which at first sight seems to be about escaping a bunch of life-threatening criminals, but in the core it actually deals with family relationships and feeling at home somewhere. The weapon doesn’t play that big of a role in the end, but forms the connection between Eli’s world as we know it and a whole new society. The fact that this is not elaborated further seems to indicate a sequel, but it could also just be the open ending that the brothers intended. Refreshingly, ‘Kin’ is in any case not based on a young adult novel, but on original material.

Admittedly, there is a good idea, or even more, behind ‘Kin’. It is a pity that these ideas are well developed, but that they are insufficient substance for a feature film. That means that filling material has to be found and that is formed by, for example, the introduction of Milly (Zoë Kravitz, dazzling as always). Her thankless and redundant role—that of a stripper with maternal feelings for Eli—feels like she was being dragged into it by her dreadlocks.

Truitt is a promise for the future, the young actor knows how to convincingly convey the introverted character of his character. Jack Reynor is especially reminiscent of Chris Pratt, which is quite distracting, but is well cast as the older Jimmy, who particularly excels at making wrong choices. The character is not really sympathetic, but because of Eli’s fate you still hope that he will repent. A bit over the top, James Franco plays the gangster Jimmy is up against, complete with tattoos on his neck, revengeful feelings and trigger-happy sidekicks. ‘Kin’ has just enough weight to keep you interested and the Baker brothers certainly show their talent. But it doesn’t have the impact it could have had.