All I knew about The Rivals of Amziah King was that it stars Matthew McConaughey, who hadn’t done a movie in a while – six years to be precise.
Trust McConaughey to choose such an intriguing movie to be involved in.
The general premise is about rustling… but not cattle. It’s about bees, the stealing of bees and most of all about small town America and a close-knit community.
Although the genre of the movie is labelled as Neo-Western, it is so much more. It is music driven with Amziah (McConaughey) playing the mandolin and singing with his makeshift Bluegrass band. The joy of playing music and community shines through this film in abundance and McConaughey is captivating as a gentle bee keeper and musician.
We meet Kateri, played by newcomer Angelina LookingGlass, a past foster child of Amziah. LookingGlass has a serene screen presence as the young Native American woman. I recognised her from the fabulous Dark Winds series.
The interactions between Kateri and Amziah, as he teaches her the skill of beekeeping, music and community stories, is heartwarming and beautifully filmed.
The film is funny including some black humour with a little gore at times. The school scene is particularly amusing due to the combination of bees and school children.
The movie changes tone half way when it turns into a crime thriller with the theft of Amziah’s bees and hives. This spurs Kateri to set out on an adventure to find and reclaim the bees.
I really enjoyed this movie even with the gear change half way in. The first half is a delight that had me smiling throughout, even in the dark bits.
This is a brilliant and original film, full of quirky highlights. It’s five stars for me.