Men under pressure.
Locke stars Tom Hardy, some voices (including that of Ruth Wilson), a steering wheel and lots of streetlights. The story is built out of the conversations Ivan Locke shares as he drives along a busy highway late at night. Driving, driving, all the way through the movie. Was this Tom’s audition for Mad Max Fury Road? Quite apart from the motoring aspects, Ivan Locke is a Seth Effriken; and we all know how Tom loves putting on foreign accents. (Script returned by Tom’s agent with note: ‘Mr Hardy no longer accepts parts which do not offer challenges to his dialect skills.’ If you’ve seen The Revenant you know exactly what I mean.)
With the entire movie focused on a man in a car, the story has got to be good. Stephen Knight, writer and director, steadily increases the tension. Locke is self-destructing in order to rebuild himself. For the sake of the office girl he knocked up he’s about to abandon his family and his job. Locke explains, instructs, and apologises as he drives. Midlife crisis negotiated through the wonders of modern technology. Remote, confronting nobody face to face, Locke distributes benedictions and maledictions seemingly at random. He’s rather Godlike, in fact. You, Fred, you get cancer. George, you’re going to win first prize in the lottery. Neither of you deserves what you get, but that’s how the cards fell. Play your hands and shut up.
A happy ending is barely possible for such a tale. Locke moves forward with his life but only at cost to others. And is he really moving forward at all? Or is he just starting all over again to assure himself that he’s still young, and full of possibilities? Imagine a screening of Locke with ex-husbands on one side of the aisle and ex-wives on the other… each side seeing its own story being told.
Hollywood is the story of David who, like Locke, has got a few problems under the family roof. But his family problems go both ways – not only to the next generation but to the previous generation as well. David’s father, Dave
has got himself into a spot of bother with a group of (ahem) businessmen in Las Vegas. David works in Hollywood. Dave assures his creditors that his boy will do anything for dear old Dad. The primary creditor has a daughter who wants to be in movies…
Davidson Cole wrote and directed. And starred in the role of David too, though you wouldn’t know that from the credits. Compared to David and his predicament Ivan Locke, driving out of one family and into another, seems stable and grounded. David arrives in Vegas not knowing why his father has invited him there. He doesn’t pay much attention at first; with his marriage disintegrating he’s more concerned about losing his daughter. When the deal is explained to him and the depths of Dad’s treachery is revealed, it’s rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights time.
David’s predicament becomes ever more surreal. He meets Farrah, played by Dana Melanie
who introduces him to a gentleman who just happens to use the same name as a certain male film star. Which film star?
We’ll get to that. David is required to ‘perform’ for this gent and a small group of friends. Pharmaceuticals are provided for his stimulation. David emerges from his drug haze with no memory of what happened. But Farrah assures him it was an exceptional performance. She’s very kind to David after Champagne the transvestite turns the hose off.
If there’s a moral to Locke it’s that no matter how deep a hole you dig for yourself, you can get out if you keep a calm head. If there’s a moral to Hollywood it’s that just when you think your life can’t be any more of a screwed up mess, someone will roll in and push you to new heights of disaster.
The trailer above is just one of a set Cole produced for the movie. You can see them all on Vimeo.
Thank you, Brad Pitt.
The mind is an unexplored country. 
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