It sort of feels as if everyone just stopped going to the cinema after the pandemic. With new indie and big budget films flopping hard at the box office, it doesn't look too good for most releases that aren't being gobbled up into the world of streaming services. This is a film that had a budget of one million dollars, but it barely managed to make 50,000 on its release. While I'm sure the film will make back its money over time with streaming licensing, it's safe to say that we are in a pretty weird spot with the film industry. Where audiences seem to be rejecting everything; but is this a result of quality, or the boredom of the cinema experience as prices are high and the public environment just isn't as comfortable as the home cinema? The Last Stop in Yuma Country is another additional to the flops that aren't quite deserving of flopping. With a relatively interesting cast that doesn't just flash Hollywood's overpaid faces at you, nor does it rely on cheap talent that perhaps isn't quite cast correctly. This is a film that I admit is actually quite good contrary to the title of this post. But most definitely another victim of the fragile present time.
The Last Stop in Yuma County is a film that was shot on an impressively low budget, but manages to tell a pretty unique story with the limited resources it holds. In terms of its technical aspects, it's quite good, and never at any moments did I feel that the quality of this side of things fell. This is one of those small indie flicks that manages to capture your attention for 90 minutes and then disappear without being remembered all that much, but does manage to engage with you during the time it does stick around with something to present, but I feel that with this comes the attempt to give off a more grand conclusion, some climax that makes the film stick out a little more, and I feel that this is where the film somewhat loses its appeal. Trying a little too hard to give itself some finale that justifies the slower burn that it holds throughout most of the film's narrative, as it does slowly build up to something quite early on. It's hard to say even here that this might be a film worthy of checking out though, it's not the type of film that I think suits most. Being rather niche, a bit too slow for the average person. And I feel that this may have also contributed to much of its commercial failure.
If you like indie films with lower budgets, however: check this out, I'm sure even with the final act, you'll enjoy it.
The Last Stop in Yuma County
Carrying much of The Last Stop in Yuma County forward is the much-loved actor Jim Cummings, and indie filmmaker that became known from a few of his own directed hits in which he also acted within. It's interesting to see him branching a little more out and accepting acting roles without creativity behind the camera for a change, and I don't think there was any talent wasted in that regard. He plays a pretty typical protagonist for his style: one that seems a bit quiet, a little normal, and somewhat weak. A character that ultimately finds himself far too deep into a world that he has no business in. Being a Japanese knife salesman roaming through the rural parts of the United States, coming to a little stop at a diner in the middle of nowhere. At the same time, the diner becomes inhabited by two sketchy looking fellows, of which appear to coincidentally have driven in with the same type of car that was previously seen at a bank robbery in a nearby town. There is a little bit of movie silliness in that our diner characters don't have a way to really contact anyone and try to call for help, primarily with the lack of phones in this time period, and the diner's owner actually being the wife of the sheriff. This becomes utilised a bit more down the line, tying a few things together.
A lot of the film relies on the build up of these few characters slowly piecing things together as they realise they these two men are in fact part of the nearby bank robbery that took place in the morning, now trying to look as normal as possible to avoid giving off any awareness of the truth. Quietly discussing things between each other and generally putting up an act. Eventually it becomes clear that these characters know, and the tensions increase a little more as they pursue a more aggressive stance upon them, at the same time we witness the side from the police as they go about their day unknowing of all of this. It doesn't really hint that the police will come and save the day, there's nothing really like that in this film and I quite enjoyed that aspect of it. It isn't trying to tell a positive story of all-out action, instead it feels more like a realistic pursuit of such a story as regular people react differently to such a scenario. We don't really have any characters to really care for in the sense that they genuinely feel important to the story as well, which makes that protagonist idea seem a bit less reliant in the story, as each character sort of shares a similar amount of screen time. Equal weight distributes that feeling of tension around the diner, giving us a look at each person's reactions and attempts to maintain their cool in the situation as things grow more serious. I don't want to tell too much of the story from this point, however, as it's certainly a simple story and goes in a certain direction quite quickly.
With the directing in this film, it's relatively standard. Your typical indie cinematography in which it relies on physical locations and some good lighting for interior and exterior shots. And I think this works decently in the film, it doesn't need to have very creative cinematography and perspectives, there doesn't need to be these unique camera movements that act immersive. If anything those would have removed some of the more realistic weight the story had. Instead it gives everything a bit more believability in the sense that we see the regular perspectives of someone that would be sitting in the diner with them, watching from afar or from different regular angles. For some I can see how this slower, more fixed perspective can seem a bit more boring with the story which is generally quite slow. I can imagine that for many they would want that typical style of directing that punches into action sequences and high movement sequences that add something a little more to the pacing. This sort of does come a bit later, but less in the creative action style of directing and more just in the tension reaching its peak and things quickly turning south.
I do think that this is a pretty good film, but as I mentioned in the introduction of the post, I do see how it can be something that just misses for the general audience. I am sure it will still make its money back in time, but it's a shame that such creative, unique films that tell little stories are also failing in the cinemas. They definitely deserve a bit more support simply from just diverging from the boring nature of big blockbuster Hollywood entries.
