This impressive debut feature from the writer-director Felix Thompson treads well-worn territory as it maps out the adolescent rites of passage of its titular anti-hero, excellently played by Boardwalk Empire graduate Charlie Plummer. Stuck in a small town with his older brother Tom (Christian Madsen) and his mother Karen (Erin Davie), outsider Jack finds himself suddenly entrusted with the care of his young cousin Ben (Cory Nichols), with whom he shares a life-changing weekend. There are shadows in King Jack of the early work of David Gordon Green as Brandon Roots’s camera finds magic-hour beauty in the rough edges of the locations, and a plaintively noodling soundtrack accentuates the atmosphere of alt-indie melancholia.
There is violence lurking here, too. A longstanding feud with an older boy leads to some distressing scenes of assault, reminding us that there is little about childhood that is gentle. But the overriding air is one of tenderness, with Plummer intelligently suggesting layers of confusion beneath his bravado, engaging our sympathies and ultimately winning our loyalty.
