Hungry Dog Blues (2022) Movie Review: “Blood is thicker than water”—a proverb many genre films have reiterated again and again through their exploration and ultimate validation of familial ties. But in his debut feature film, Hungry Dog Blues (2022), filmmaker Jason Abrams (who also stars), while not challenging the veracity of old-age wisdom, does question the limits to what we are willing to do to help our family and the moral lapses we ultimately undergo in the process. Not everything in the film ultimately works to flesh out this thematic core, but this short 75-minute narrative does show enough spark in Jason Abrams as a promising filmmaker.
The film opens with a voice message that our protagonist, Charlie (Abrams), receives from his estranged father, Frank. It is clear from the desperate and apologetic voice that Frank is in trouble and wants Charlie’s help. In the brief message (replayed throughout the film), we learn that Frank has been framed for a financial scandal, and he blames a woman called Ronnie Day (Amy Hargreaves) for implicating him by testifying in court. Soon after, Charlie joins his elder and equally estranged half-brother, Terrence (C.J. Wilson), to track Ronnie and acquit their father.
They land at the house of Tina (Irina Gorovaia), Ronnie’s daughter, whom she abandoned years ago. Charlie and Terrence enlist a pregnant Tina’s help to lure Ronnie into the house and interrogate her about the scandal. But things soon spiral out of hand when the brothers realize that Ronnie is more manipulative than she seems and that helping their father might require more than kidnapping a witness.
Abrams based the story on a similar ordeal that his own father experienced. While initially reluctant to help his father, Abrams began interrogating his morals when more evidence seemed to hint towards a more complicated truth. Abrams’s surrogate in the film is the character of Charlie, who, too, is willing to turn a blind eye to everything to save his father.
Being a loner (Charlie stoically reveals early on that he does not have a girlfriend), Charlie has nothing to lose and is ready to go to extreme lengths to adhere to the promise of helping his father. A foil to Charlie’s character is Terrence, a family man who seems hesitant to follow in his half-brother’s bloody footsteps. But when outside forces threaten to harm them, Terrence finds himself an unwitting accomplice in this violent affair.
Thanks to its short length, Hungry Dog Blues is a fast-paced affair that reaches its high as soon as the brothers manage to lure Ronnie into the house. Despite a minimalist setup, the film transforms into a gripping interrogative thriller as Charlie coaxes Ronnie to reveal the truth. While Abrams’s filmmaking choices do elevate a lot of what is written, it is the performances that truly make the material shine.
Trying to imitate many sociopathic characters from the screen to intimidate Ronnie, Abrams puts forth a menacing turn. The show’s real scene-stealer, however, is indie star Amy Hargreaves, whose manipulative and chameleon turn as Ronnie is easily the film’s highlight. Gorovaia as her estranged daughter, is powerful as well—her skeptical and stern eyes give enough implication of the parental trauma that still looms over her.
Talking of parental trauma, the specter of fathers pervades throughout the film even though their material presence is barely visible. Charlie is ready to partake in a fatal scheme to help a father who was never around in the first place. Tina has conflicting emotions about her abusive dead father, who Ronnie killed.
In a very Zolaesque view, the film seems to suggest that humans are tied to their familial roots no matter how much they convince themselves otherwise. We are ready to shed our blood and the blood of others to protect the ones we love despite our conscience. In the film’s somewhat optimistic ending, Abrams seems to be questioning our blood ties and hinting at the fact of the actual family being chosen rather than determined by DNA.
In its exploration of everyday people thrust into violence, Hungry Dog Blues is reminiscent of Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin (2013). Abrams ensures that the bloodshed in his film feels real yet never over the top—staying grounded to the film’s ordinary characters. In more exploitative hands, this could have easily been a story about two brothers caught in a bloody carnage. Still, Abrams ensures that the humanity of his characters remains intact—well reflected in a scene where Terrence has a deadly brawl with a nemesis.
But unlike Blue Ruin, which had a more well-thought-out exploration of somewhat similar themes, Abrams struggles to land a promising ending. This could have been due to the budget cuts and minimalist production due to COVID, but this reduction does impact the quality of the final product.
Nevertheless, with his steady vision as both a director and performer, Abrams shows enough sparks of a promising filmmaker. His debut, Hungry Dog Blues, packs a punch, although one whose final impact feels relatively subdued in contrast to its overall promise.
![Jack Be Nimble [2022] Review: A Poorly Scripted Thriller; Even Poorer in Execution](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Jack-Be-Nimble-768x538.jpg)
![Four to Dinner [2022] Review: Little makes sense in this confusing tale of finding a soulmate](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Four-to-Dinner-1-768x512.jpg)
