Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: VIA NEGATIVA [Tribeca Film Festival - New York, New York]

The idea of a calling is an interesting construct in the 21st Century. "Via Negativa" [US Narrative Competition) is the adaptation of Daniel Hornsby’s novel seemingly chronicling his own path away from the church. Hannah Peterson writes and directs the story with a deft hand in what is not the easiest of subjects. Young Mazino brings a fragility but also a humanity to Father Dan, a priest that has not lost his faith but perhaps lost his way. He wants to connect people but lacks the full discipline to do it exactly the way the church wants. He is cast astray with nowhere quite to go in the moment. From the first moment he steps into a bar and the barmaid confesses her darkest secret to him, the narrative identifies that Dan lives in a netherworld. People are accepting of him simply because of the collar and perhaps not seeing the man underneath.

Father Dan helps a runaway teenager from a farm that offered him shelter but again he doesn’t realize that even though his intentions are good, the outcome is not correct. He spends most of the movie coming to terms with himself but ultimately confronting that which broke his faith: his friend Paul who underwent trauma, found his way back but ultimately faltered. Dan couldn’t save his friend so the journey is an inquest to what he can actually do. An interesting line that comes from an interesting character actor towards the end is “You can’t kill what is already dead”. But also nature and nuture becomes its own thing. Dan picks up a dog that was hurt not realizing it was a coyote and heals it. Eventually its nature comes back to bite him but it is because his perception didn’t reach far enough. Father Dan’s journey shows that his heart is in the right place but that we are all flawed even if we are trying to do good. “Via Negativa” explores that path that ultimately is just about moving forward. B

By Tim Wassberg