Vertical Entertainment
Blood on her Name, directed by Matthew Pope, tells an intricate story of family ties, violence, the spherical nature of time, and the inevitability of history repeating itself if trauma isn’t dealt with correctly. Our story unfolds in the aftermath of violence; we meet Leigh (Bethany Anne Lind) the intended victim, however she has manged to overthrow and kill her assailant. Despite being desperate and having blood on her hands, rather than dispose of the body, she decides to return it to her attacker’s family. This then leads to a police investigation into the death and Leigh finds herself doing everything she can to avoid suspicions. Her desperation soon sees her hurtling down a collision course with traumatic events from her childhood.
Leading the fantastic work by the cast, and the intrigue of the forever morphing narrative, is Pope’s assured hand behind the lens. Pope punctuates all the drama with scenes of high tension and adrenaline spikes, ensuring that the viewer never becomes too complacent. Containing all the mystery and intrigue that one would find in a typical crime thriller, Blood on her Name works strongest as a character study and relationship drama. The grimy crime elements are present, but Pope, whom also co-wrote the screenplay, opts to utilise them more as a backdrop.
Vertical Entertainment
All of Leigh’s relationships with those around her have a different dynamic that each reveal a little more about our lead. Firstly, through her relationship with her wayward teenage son Ryan (Jared Ivers), we glimpse the ferocious lioness that hides within her. Most of her desperation to not get caught stems from the fact that Ryan’s dad is currently incarcerated and she doesn’t want to leave her son alone, with himself on the brink of criminality. Here we also learn of her struggles to play the role of both parents whilst at the same time keeping her business afloat and a roof over their heads. It’s a predicament that many can identify with and its through this portrayal that Lind begins to win the audience over.
The audience’s opinion is then challenged as we meet the next man in Leigh’s life, her co-worker and employee Reynoso (Jimmy Gonzales). The pair share a less than platonic bond, but it’s unclear how much of it may be authentic and how much of it is driven by Leigh’s desire to have a ‘normal’ family environment for her son. Finally, there’s Leigh’s relationship with her estranged father (Will Patton), whom also happens to be the town Sheriff. It’s here that the real flesh and bones of the story, and the film, are hidden. Slowly we learn of the reasons for their estrangement and it soon becomes clear that history may be repeating itself, but can Leigh learn from old mistakes?
Vertical Entertainment
Given all the hard work on establishing such complex and intricate relationships, it’s almost a shame that the narrative is told through the medium of film. Which such solid foundations, the concept would lend itself so easily to a limited run mini-series. This would enable the extra time to really delve into Leigh’s history, and of those around hers. As it stands, in its feature-context, some of the nuances are lost with certain events and revelations not quite given the time to properly breathe in the way that they deserve.
A tightly wound relationship study set the an intriguing crime thriller backdrop, Blood on Her Name is nifty little indie, more than worthy of your time.
Blood on Her Name is available on Digital HD now.
