Movie Review: Turn the River

Turn the River (2008)

Directed by Chris Eigeman

Written by Chris Eigeman 

Starring Famke Janssen, Chris Eigeman, Rip Torn, Lois Smith

Release Date May 9th, 2008 

Published July 8th, 2008 

Trusting an actor like a brand name is risky. Unlike your favorite brand of pop, the consistency and taste won't always be the same. I trust actor Chris Eigeman as a brand. His work from television (Gilmore Girls) to the big screen (Last Days of Disco) have displayed consistent quality, good taste and entertainment value.

Now that he has moved into the realm of writer-director he risks his brand name on a difficult new venture. Thankfully, my trust in the Eigeman brand is well rewarded. His debut feature Turn The River is an exceptional, dark character study, consistently riveting and heartbreaking without ever cloying.

Famke Janssen stars in Turn The River as Kailey, a degenerate gambler and pool hustler. She also happens to be a loving mother who longs to see her little boy Gulley and lives for their brief Central Park meetings before school, away from prying eyes. Gulley was taken from Kai at birth by his grandmother, a pentecostal type who couldn't imagine her grandson being raised by a woman who made her money gambling.

Some ten years later, with the help of a friend and pool hall owner, Quinn (Rip Torn), Kai has reconnected with Gulley and the two are exchanging letters and meeting secretly. When Gulley shows up with a broken hand and cryptic excuses, Kai begins to suspect that his father (Matt Ross) is responsible. So, Kai hatches a plan to kidnap her boy and head for the border.

The clever twist of convention in Turn The River is having our degenerate gambling hustler played by the exotic and glamourous Famke Janssen. We have seen plots about low life characters who try to turn their lives around for their kids but they are always with male leads and the doom is predictable. With Janssen in the lead we are a little off balance with this typical plot and it's kind of nice.

Chris Eigeman's direction does a tremendous job of bringing us around to Kai's side even as she engages in less than the best behavior. She has poor judgement and grand ideas, always a bad combination and yet we are with her from beginning to an ending that will leave many audiences up in arms.

Though the film is oddly called Turn The River, a poker reference for the uninitiated, the films third lead is pool. Janssen's Kai engages in an epic series of single pocket and nine ball games with ever increasing stakes and the way they are played by Eigeman and his tremendous cast, we are sucked in and the suspense is palpable. The plot mechanics do nothing to push the outcome and the genuine unknown quality is tense.

Turn The River is a tremendous debut for actor Chris Eigeman as a writer-director. He has extended his brand loyalty to another level and it will be excited to see what he does next. Whatever comes next, I have complete faith in the quality of the effort. Turn The River demonstrates that the Chris Eigeman brand is only getting stronger as it diversifies.