Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SOVEREIGN [Tribeca Film Festival 2025 - New York, NY]
The idea of personification of wrong is in the eyes of the beholder until that perspective explodes in the connotations of consequence and improbability. With "Sovereign" [Spotlight Narrative], Nick Offerman continues to explore tricky subjects with a more central character that is both pained, lost but also undeniably convinced of his beliefs within a bigger connotation of work. Director Christian Swegal picks an interesting real life story that acts almost as a precept to "Civil War" which Offerman also was in. Here he is a father that is both scamming in a way, trying to speak to his "truth" but also providing safe haven for people who believe that their government is alienating them or abandoning them.
Jerry Kane (Offerman) talks a big game and Offerman's sure and steady performamce makes one feel that he really believes what he is saying. His son Joe (Jacob Tremblay) who is only 15 is trying to understand the world. His mother had died so his range of influence is undeniably limited against his better knowledge but directly drawn from his father. Joe is impressionable, is a hard worker but the only connection to existance is his father who almost doesn't understand what this is leading to (or maybe he does). Joe does understand the difference beween right and wrong but is lost in many ways. Martha Plimpton comes in as an older lady who understands Jerry or at least has a connection or attraction to what he is which is brokenness.
At the same time, the film follows a police chief Jim Brouchart (Dennis Quaid -- in anotther interesting choice after "The Substance") who has a son of his own with a newborn. What is interesting is the parallels of Jim's influence on his son versus what eventually happens and goes on with Jerry and his son. Certain pressure points add to this, one being a traffic stop where Jerry says he doesn't need papers or driver's licenses to travel with his son. It is basic but it does show the tenets of life that people look towards that they may see as chains (but yet they are also safeguards). The movie does amp up the idea until it explodes when the father and his son are evicted from their house. What happens next (including the father calling out the son for his malfeasance] is so cold that when their life implodes in a dramatic way it leads to a final reckoning, it is undeniably powerful, possibly easily avoidable but part of the powder keg mentality that is part of the national consciousness right now. "Sovereign" is not an easy watch but a powerful one in terms of perspective. B+
By Tim Wassberg
