Movie Reviews

Movie Review: A Present-Day Robin Hood Runs Into Unforeseen Difficulties In “No Loss // No Gain”


 

A mysterious modern-day Robin Hood gives the victims of a bank robbery a million-dollar opportunity.

Your break-even point is the point at which total revenue equals total costs or expenses. At this point, there is no profit or loss — in other words, you’ll break even. Chinese tradition holds that when a person takes what doesn’t belong to them, they give up virtue in equal amounts – that there must always be that “break-even” point that occurs when your gain equals your loss. Director Christian Rousseau, in his tightly woven script, poses just this question. If you are given an ill-gotten gain that was stolen from someone else, what must you give up in the process? The parameters certainly favor “take the money and run.” The money Rousseau’s Robin Hood has access to is, in effect, itself stolen, either outright or by corporate manipulation. The overriding issue, however, is what happens physically and morally when one accepts a portion of that money even when proffered as a “lucky gift.” What are you willing to give up for a million dollars of ill-gotten gain that will never even be missed? Each of Rousseau’s characters must ponder this when that question confronts them. Does having money to use for good things, for needed things, bypass the question of loss? What does one give up in exchange? Each character in this film confronts this question in different ways as the story grows ever tenser. What seems obvious to one is not obvious at all to some others.

Solving this riddle creates a gripping story in “No Loss // No Gain.” The script is well-written and never wordy. It touches a part of everyone’s life who has ever dealt with the big banking monsters that prowl from Wall Street to my street with unthinking, uncaring responses to our needs. Wouldn’t we all like the opportunity to pay them back with a swipe at those unimaginably large “hidden accounts?” What would prompt anyone to turn that down?

Rousseau operates San Austin Film Enterprises, based out of our own capital city of Austin. He has a lot of film credits, but mostly business and marketing films. It appears this film may actually be his initial rollout into a full-length storytelling project. If that is true, then I would have to say it is a very engaging rollout. The actors get the suspense going, the editing keeps it rolling, and the music perfectly underscores the increasingly intense storyline. Rousseau as writer/director gives you something to ponder, to think about, and to ponder again on another day.

 

Available on Digital and On Demand July 6th

 

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Mildred Austin

I can remember being a girl fascinated by the original CINDERELLA and trying to understand that the characters weren’t REAL?? But how was that possible? Because my mom was a cinema lover, she often took me with her instead of leaving me with a babysitter. I was so young in my first film experiences, I would stare at that BIG screen and wonder “what were those people up there saying?” And then as a slightly older girl watching Margaret O’Brien in THE RED SHOES, I dreamed of being a ballerina. Later, in a theatre with my mom and aunt watching WUTHERING HEIGHTS, I found myself sobbing along with the two of them as Katherine and Heathcliff were separated forever. I have always loved film. In college in the ’60s, the Granada in Dallas became our “go-to” art theater where we soaked up 8 ½, THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, WILD STRAWBERRIES and every other Bergman film to play there. Although my training is in theatre and I have acted and directed in Repertory Theatre, college and community theatre, I am always drawn back to the films.

I live in Garland and after being retired for 18 years, I have gone back to work in an elementary school library. I am currently serving as an Associate Critic for John Garcia’s THE COLUMN, an online theatre magazine and I see and review local community theatre shows for that outlet. I’m excited to have the opportunity to extend my experiences now to film and review for IRISH FILM CRITIC. See you at the movies - my preferred seat is back row!