HIM

 

TV director Justin Tipping "tackles" professional football in a daring and bloody fashion in HIM, his first major feature film that is more surrealism than horror.

Tyriq Walters stars as Cameron Cade, touted as the best college quarterback in the country, as he travels to New Mexico after a brutal, disabling attack to work with the GOAT, Isaiah White, played by Marlon Wayans, the high-powered QB for the San Antonio Saviors

Cade was reared by his father, Cam Sr. (Don Benjamin) to aspire to be the next Isaiah White, and he cannot decline the chance to work into the post, even if his head injury is a recurring concern.

He arrives at White's compound and is greeted with warm affection by White and his wife, Elsie (Julia Fox) but that quickly turns into intimidation and increasing levels of brutality, made bearable by daily injections and transfusions administered by White's personal physician, Marco (Jim Jefferies).

The script by Tipping and writers/producers Skip Bronkie and Zach Akers pulls from a number of cinematic and cultural traditions. Its religious symbolism and references to denial of self and blood sacrifice brought to mind the films of Spanish surrealist Luis Bunuel. It bears more than a passing resemblance to the work of Jordan Peele, one of the picture's producers.

Though both Wayans and Walters deliver tireless performances (Walters more than Wayans), the story's trajectory feels uncertain, the messaging is muddy and seems to be mostly about the deceptive qualities of ambition than anything else. That is a rich concept to explore, and I hope Tipping gives it another shot.

I suspect HIM will find a cult audience drawn to the movie's physicality, sexual tensions and treatment of sacred cows.