Failure! (2023) Review

James (Ted Raimi) is the owner of a plastics factory which is in massive debt. When a meeting with a representative from his bank results in no further funds being provided, our not entirely sympathetic protagonist has to work out if there’s a way to protect his family and avoid financial ruin, frequently examined from the sidelines by an unlikely source. Just how far will James go?

I remember reviewing writer/director Alex Kahaum’s debut Forgiveness a couple of years ago and, I’m not going to mince words here, I did not enjoy it. That was then, and this is now, and I’m both delighted and relieved to be able to say that Failure! does not live up to its critic tempting title. I’m reminded of the Andy Warhol film “Bad” in terms of teeing up an obvious review.

Opening with a quote about protecting the people you love, even if it means protecting them from yourself braces the viewer for James being a really bad guy, especially given some of the movie history of the actor who’s playing him, but Raimi brings a fully rounded character to the piece, genuinely charming when he wants to be, coldly detached when the situation warrants it. It’s a measured performance which is wonderfully free of hysteria and allows for some amusing, thinly veiled disdain towards some (most?) of the folks who cross his path.

Having the whole story take place across a single take in one location could have made for an experience in which the idea of the experiment turns out to be far more interesting than the execution but the plot ticks along agreeably enough and the setting is expansive enough to allow for sufficient detours to avoid matters becoming too stagey. Also, Raimi is always there to command attention and hold interest even if there’s the odd lull or two in getting the tale to near enough the hour and a half mark.

Failure! is a film in which the main character may not be the most virtuous man on the planet – and there are some predictable reveals about James’ shady accounting practices – but he’s surrounded by business associates who are, for the most part, worse. It’s a way of sugaring the pill when asking the audience to side with James but I’m not sure this is needed, because the lead is so intriguing that there’s a fascination with just how ruthless he could be and when he didn’t cross a certain line, an odd feeling of disappointment followed for me.

The asides with James’ involvement in preparations for an upcoming family wedding arguably don’t add a whole lot to the proceedings but if nothing else they do showcase a couple of lovely sequences with screen daughter Maria (Melissa Diaz) which, along with a third act reveal about James’ loyal employee Carlos, aim to further soften our view of Failure!’s antihero. Maybe I would have enjoyed it even more had James been an out and out bastard, but I understand the decisions made as to where his dilemma should take him.

The story isn’t loaded with twists and turns but it doesn’t need to be, this is the classic set up involving one man who finds himself in a sticky situation that may not be entirely of his own making and the moves he makes in an attempt to extricate himself from said situation, hopefully keeping his smart suit clean along the way. It helps when you have the strong, silent Slavko (Ernest Cavazos) on call to assist with life’s more tricky moments.

This may not quite stick the landing due a surprisingly low-key denouement that lacking in emotional punch (although the final line does have some resonance) but overall, this is ambitious, freewheeling filmmaking that deserves your time. The plot never ties itself in knots to adhere to the “one shot” approach and I didn’t notice it wasn’t cutting away after only a few minutes because I was sufficiently invested in what was actually happening. Yes, it’s more of a darkly comic thriller than outright horror but genre fans will almost certainly get a kick out of Ted Raimi being front and centre for the entire running time. Give it a try, you don’t want Slavko turning up at your door.

Movie Rating:

Failure! Trailer