Nov Criminals (2017)

Directed by: Sacha Gervasi | 85 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Ansel Elgort, Chloë Grace Moretz, Catherine Keener, David Strathairn, Cory Hardrict, Terry Kinney, Victor Williams, Danny Flaherty, Tessa Albertson, Leah Procito, Philip Ettinger, Allie Marshall, Noel Ramos, Joseph Oliveira, Karina Deyko

It was not a bad debut for writer Sam Munson. His first novel, ‘The November Criminals’ of 2010, received critical acclaim in The New York Times and The Washington Post and was even labeled an ‘Editor’s Choice’ by The Times, a recommendation that is guaranteed to boost sales. The novel focuses on ‘young adults’. The protagonist is eighteen-year-old Addison Schacht, a college student about to graduate from high school and enter college. In his last year at High School, the rather remarkable boy experiences the necessary traumas. His mother died suddenly, according to the doctors of an aneurysm. Within six months, Addison also loses a good friend, who is shot dead shortly after seeing him. Addison decides to bite the bullet in the murder case; a way for him to cope with the loss of his mother. British screenwriter and director Sacha Gervasi, who broke through in 2008 with the acclaimed music documentary ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ and ‘Hitchcock’ (2012) also proved their ability to make feature films, Munson’s novel was adapted into a film as ‘November Criminals’ in 2017. Ansel Elgort and Chloë Grace Moretz, who previously appeared together in the remake of the horror classic ‘Carrie ‘ (2013), starring.

Like the book, the film begins with Addison Schacht (Ansel Elgort) having to answer the following question for his University of Chicago application form: “What are your good and bad qualities?” Addison claims to have only bad qualities and has added a whopping 22 extra pages to list them all. Where the book then elaborates on those bad qualities – the Addison from the novel likes to insult people, deals drugs to his fellow students and argues with teachers – the boy is not too bad in the film. His bad qualities can be counted on one hand: he is quite neurotic, sometimes acts like a headless chicken and is quite stubborn. For example, he sticks to using a pager, while his classmates all have cell phones. He drives an old car, raves about David Bowie, doesn’t wear the hottest clothes and makes video diaries with his father’s (David Strathairn) old VHS recorder, but otherwise there is no harm in the boy. After visiting their friend Kevin (Jared Kemp) at Starbucks, Addison’s friend Phoebe (Chloë Grace Moretz) confesses that she doesn’t want to leave high school a virgin. While she and Addison are uncomfortably messing around in bed, Kevin is shot and killed in cold blood in the coffee shop. Police claim the murder is gang-related, something Addison refuses to believe. He decides to investigate himself, in order to solve the murder of his friend. He couldn’t mean anything to his mother anymore, maybe to Kevin.

‘November Criminals’ is more of a coming-of-age story than a murder mystery. Young Addison has a lot to do on his way to adulthood and he can’t – or rather: doesn’t want to – talk about it with his father, a good-hearted jerk. Fortunately, he can get along with Phoebe, a sensible and balanced aunt who knows what she wants and who can provide her perfectionist and overbearing mother (Catherine Keener) with an answer. He just doesn’t always listen to Phoebe in his search for the culprit. In book form, this story is rich in twists and turns and we are drawn into Addison’s emotional life; the film version is unfortunately quite superficial and meager. Addison isn’t as tough a boy here as we’re led to believe; you really don’t need to have studied psychology to see that his behavior is a direct result of his mother’s death. Why no professional – or any adult for that matter – stands up to help him is a mystery that fascinated us more than the storylines we are presented with. His reckless actions – in tracking down the perpetrator he enters a snake pit of crime – shows such naivety that it becomes unbelievable. Ansel Elgort tries his best, but fails to breathe life into Addison’s character; the same goes for Chloë Grace Moretz, who seems even more distant if possible. Their chemistry is also hard to find. David Strathairn as Addison’s father Theo is a lot more approachable, but gets too little to do. We also wanted to see more of Catherine Keener; her character is barely developed. The camera work and the overall decoration are decent, but nothing more. The only really positive highlight in the whole is the soundtrack, with a starring role for David Bowie and his hypnotic ballad ‘Wild is the Wind’.

‘November Criminals’ isn’t really bad, but the makers seem to have consistently made the wrong choices. From the character Addison Schacht, as he was created by Sam Munson, they just omit the qualities that give him the necessary punch. And the unbelievable sides of the storyline are magnified. The cast that is interesting on paper does not get any opportunity to show what it has to offer. Fortunately, there is the music. As is often the case with novel adaptations: the book was better.