Mark Reviews Movies

Poster

THE INTEGRITY OF JOSEPH CHAMBERS

2.5 Stars (out of 4)

Director: Robert Machoian

Cast: Clayne Crawford, Jordana Brewster, Michael Raymond-James, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carl Kennedy

MPAA Rating: Not rated

Running Time: 1:36

Release Date: 2/17/23 (limited; digital & on-demand)


The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, Gravitas Ventures

Become a fan on Facebook Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | February 16, 2023

There isn't much to the story of The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, although the way writer/director Robert Machoian tries to portray the mindset of his eponymous character and tosses us a couple of surprises along the way comes close to making up for how shallow the narrative is. Here, we meet a man who believes himself prepared for a day of hunting alone in the woods, and initially, Machoian's movie is a comedy about just how unprepared this guy is.

The man is Joe, of course, and is played by Clayne Crawford with just the right degrees of stubborn ego that we don't find him irritating and of bright-eyed optimism that we suspect we might feel bad for him when his hunting trip inevitably goes wrong. This, of course, presumes that the way in which his trip will go wrong only affects him, as almost certainly seems to be the case in the early parts of the story.

Joe ignores the good-natured mockery, rational warnings, and foreboding feelings of his wife (played by Jordana Brewster), who thinks her husband should go out hunting with some pals a few more times before making a solo attempt. Our man's mind is set, though, because he, a bland insurance salesman who moved from the city to the country with the wife and their two kids, wants to prove to himself that he can provide for his family if society were ever to collapse. If he can hunt a deer, Joe will have proved his point.

The setup is pretty amusing at first, as Joe plays rugged, finds himself in little physically awkward situations, starts daydreaming about his real and imagined accomplishments (He hears a round of applause upon climbing a ladder), and swings his buddy's rifle around like it’s a baseball bat or a machete. When he finally spots a deer, he gives chase and, upon hearing something behind him, he blindly fires in that general direction.

Machoian's approach is slow and restrained, which works fairly well for the comic touches of the first act. As soon as Joe has to face the consequences of that random shot, though, the relaxed pacing and lengthy one-takes of breathless monologues and unlikely conversations clash with the obvious desperation of the character, as well as the moral dilemma he has to confront. Should he rationalize and devise a way to protect himself and preserve his family, or is there is a more correct choice to make here?

The way Machoian uses sound, which becomes a cacophony of voices and echoes of his actions as Joe tries to determine the right thing to do, is impressive, and The Integrity of Joseph Chambers does broadly serve as a dissection of pride and stubbornness—particularly of the generically male varieties. It's just that the filmmaker's methodical technique reveals how broad the strokes of his point and how thin the strokes of the narrative are.

Copyright © 2023 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved.

Back to Home



Buy Related Products

In Association with Amazon.com