Life at the Crossroads in Tense ‘Critical Nexus’

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Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – In the realm of micro-budget independent films, it’s rare that a story produces psychological intrigue and the aura of a pulse pounding thriller. Director Tirf Alexius uses three characters to drive a narrative that is fast approaching the definition of its title, “Critical Nexus.”

The centerpiece of the film are the uncommon personalities that develop and are destined to come together. “Critical Nexus” refers to the crossroads that are initiated when divergent paths are on a collision course, and the screenplay by Todd Heller sets those paths into a frenzied motion. The film is a kaleidoscope of the point-of-view, as director Alexius uses smart phones and laptop cameras to create a contemporary viewpoint of the “eye,” both watching the characters and allowing them to broadcast their fate. The story creates a mood of vulnerability in coming to that nexus, and it is in being vulnerable that the strengths and fatal flaws of the players are revealed.

Katie (Kiley Moore) is a frustrated 16 year-old teenager, who expresses her confounding sexuality through video blogging. Her followers on the interactive site include Mark (Karmann Bajuyo), a former internet pioneer who harbors guilt about his web creations, and Brendan (Ron Lipski), who is traveling cross country committing random murders. When Katie runs away from home, the mystery of where she is going becomes part of figuring out why she’s gone.

On the Line: Katie (Kiley Moore) in ‘Critical Nexus’ Photo credit: R-Squared Films

The journey of Katie and those pursuing her become the basis for the rest of the story, as flashbacks fill in Mark’s sordid past, and how that past has a connection to both Brendan and Katie’s father (Kevin Lingle). As the teenager runs farther away, her internet “fans” demand that she be closer, and a physical encounter is destined to occur at the crossroads.

This is a modern story, using our interconnected tech society to express how far apart we actually are. The characters all seem to be victims of this, both on the property side (the internet developer Mark), the voyeurs (Brendan) and the “entertainers” (Katie). The fascination in all this is deftly applied by director Alexius, as he uses the technological glimpses on the internet web as a trap rather than a convenience. The vitality is the experience, through this smart thriller, on how far the disconnection can go.

The lead actors drive the narrative with agile performances, especially from Kiley Moore as Katie and Karmann Bajuyo as Mark. Moore plays the brainy temptress with a confused maturity, living on the run yet still desperate for the attention of her internet followers. Bajuyo is all about conflicted rage, using his journey as a punishment for past sins. His hopeless drive to get to the “nexus” is the moral center of the story, and he is the arbiter of his own penance.

Also nimble is the use of the various angles that the camera employs, to show the in-your-face power of our current tech landscape. That “eye” is already jaded, and Tirf Alexius and his cinematographer Ron Rehena allow that hopeless viewpoint to occur while Katie records her video blog, when the followers of that blog are interacting and finally at the confrontation finale, complete with the flickering connection issues.

Kiley Moore, Ron Lipski and Karmann Bajuyo of ‘Critical Nexus’ Photo credit: R-Squared Films

The motivations of the characters are all sound, which drives the story into themes and arenas that are atypical of thrillers at this level of film production. Corruption, exploitation, greed, ignorance and grief are all communicated through the complex lives presented as they intersect. This is a literate fable about the frustration that occurs when trying to distinguish a connection that is online with what is personal, to satisfy our need in relating to other human beings.

Yes, there are killings, and yes, there is the gun. But who uses it and why becomes the issue rather that the shot actually being fired. It is the motivating factor of the person behind an itchy trigger finger, willing to create a passage that leads to the “critical nexus.”

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com