A harvester of disease in “Antiviral,” a white supremacist in “Get Out,” mass murderer Martin Bryant in “Nitram,” Vlad the Impaler himself in “Dracula”: Caleb Landry Jones has carved such a niche for himself playing men not to be touched with a ten-foot pole that “Down the Arm of God” immediately stands out for casting the actor as a man of regular, common decency. The takeaway, however, from this affectingly earnest social drama is that decency is neither common nor regular in an increasingly divided, individualist America — something that Jones’ character, small-town Texas priest Nick, learns to his growing anguish.
Reteaming the star with Austrian director Peter Brunner, “Down the Arm of God” presents an unsurprisingly skeptical outsider’s view of the land of the free in the MAGA era — its foundational democratic values compromised by desperate economic inequality and bitter ongoing conflicts of race and class. With a diverse ensemble mixing name actors and non-professionals, the film’s first half recalls documentary-infused observational drama in the mold of early Chloé Zhao, as it follows Nick’s efforts to engage with a homeless community on the edge of his parish.
The second, segueing into violently heated, politicized melodrama, is less convincing. But the whole thing is kept on track by the worn, steadfast integrity of Jones’ performance: It’s clear that the film, which he co-wrote with Brunner following their work together on 2018’s tense psychodrama “To the Night,” is a passion project for him, to the extent that his own father John has a fleeting but crucial cameo. Following its world premiere in Locarno’s audience-oriented Piazza Grande section, this French-American co-production (Jones’ “Dracula” director Luc Besson is among the producers) should secure arthouse distribution (or a streaming deal) on both sides of the Atlantic. Breakout potential may be curbed by its stolid, downbeat nature.
