Rub review
Available on Video on Demand tomorrow, Rub tells a story of lost people finding each other in the worst of circumstances. Excellent performances and confident direction make this a journey worth taking.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Rub
Directed by Christopher Fox
Written by Christopher Fox
Starring Micah Spayer, Jennifer Figuereo, Westley Barrington Artope and PJ Landers
Rub Review
Stories about loneliness and desperation don’t generally elicit exciting responses. You tend to just feel bummed out. That’s part of what makes Rub interesting. While it remains firmly committed to exploring its lost, broken characters…it finds the best way to examine them is through an exciting, moving lens. Most character studies take characters out of their comfort zone. Rub plucks its characters out of their discomfort without warning and throws them into a world set against them. Posing the question…is it better to be internally depressed alone or externally distressed together?
Neal (Micah Spayer) is a lonely man. He spends most of his time alone…which may be the best part of his day given how he is treated by the people he works with. When one of his coworkers points him to a massage parlor that will provide him with an affordable sexual experience…Neal reluctantly gives it a try. There he meets Perla (Jennifer Figuereo), a beautiful woman with a tragic backstory. While the first visit has a (forgive me) happy ending…his return trip offers anything but. Armed thugs storm the building and send Neal and Perla on a frantic run for their lives. Lives that weren’t what either one wanted them to be in the first place.
There is a scene early in Rub that does a great job foreshadowing Neal’s upcoming journey. He arrives at work the day after his first meeting with Perla a happier, more confident man. He’s allowed to briefly believe that his life has finally changed for the better. He discovers that his trip to the massage parlor is the butt of a workplace joke and leaves infuriated and destroyed. His whole world crashes down in further horror.
No matter how bad things get for Neal…the loneliness is worse. His life is in danger when he’s on the run with Perla…but he’s not on the run alone. These characters need each other. They’re better off together in every meaning of those words. The difference in Neal is evident from the start. He saves Perla from an attacker…showing courage and strength unbecoming the beaten down introvert we were introduced to. He grows closer to Perla both physically and emotionally over the course of Rub. It took the most dangerous time of his life to grant him the thing he’d always wanted most.
Micah Spayer is extraordinary as Neal. His ability to portray extreme emotions realistically is Rub’s greatest weapon. His raw depiction of depression can be felt through the screen. Watching him get ridiculed by his coworkers is heartbreaking. Every moment of stolen happiness or contentment with Perla feels like a victory. But there’s more behind it all. You can feel a breaking point simmering beneath Neal’s surface. The pressure of his situation is unsustainable. You can feel that an explosion will come eventually…you just aren’t sure where it will be directed. Like that scene before his life changes forever…Neal’s journey feels doomed to end in further horror.
The only thing in Neal’s story that you feel safe with is Perla. Jennifer Figuereo matches Spayer’s ability to create a realistic character in extreme circumstances. She needs Neal just as much as Neal needs her. Life has dealt her another terrible hand when she finds herself at gunpoint in the massage parlor. Desperate actions put her on the run with Neal…connecting to someone in a way that she too has failed to in the past. Perla is a strong character. Neal gives you the impression that he’s struggling to find himself and find his way through a hellish situation. Perla, on the other hand, feels prepared to handle anything. She grew up through hell…hardened by it. A different version of it doesn’t make her unsure of who she is. It reinforces it.
Neal and Perla’s journey takes them to several colorful characters and interesting places. Writer/director Christopher Fox gives them a gorgeously shot world to travel through. Like his cast he creates a realistic world even in its heightened state (aside from one memorable, incredibly sequence). The production design and cinematography in Rub far surpasses its low budget origins. An incredible accomplishment for the first-time feature film director.
Scare Value
There are a lot of words and phrases in this review that may evoke trepidation. “Low budget”, “character study”, “stories about loneliness” …they probably don’t make you think about a good time. Rub’s performances and confident production overcome any fears. Unlike its characters…Rub always knows exactly what it’s doing. It knows what turns to take and where it needs to end up.
Neal and Perla don’t really know where they’re going. Just that they need to go together.
4/5
Rub Link
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu
