The Atlantan
Jimmy Dorona (Andrew Treglia) is a family man and public servant, who has channeled his own past with addiction into a career helping others who face the same addiction. It’s a noble life, although he still has a foot in the world he used to live in before cleaning up his life, which can, unfortunately, lead to some tense moments. One day, he and his family are going out when a lightening storm knocks down a nearby tree, which lands on their car, killing Jimmy’s wife and young son. This tragedy sends Jimmy on a downward spiral back into the life he had before his family. The question that remains is, will he be able to bring himself back from this spiral?
As a Georgian myself, it’s exciting to be able to see a film from a local filmmaker that sets the story in the city specifically, rather than just being “filmed in Georgia” like many blockbusters have been of late. Atlanta has a very interesting energy to it that isn’t really utilized in movies, and Treglia, who wrote and directed “The Atlantan,” tries to bring that to life with his thriller. Part of the problem, however, comes from the fact that there doesn’t seem to really be anything about Jimmy that makes him distinctly “Atlantan” to warrant being defined by his surroundings. As he’s shown in the film, he’s simply a family man with a difficult past that had tragedy strike, and he takes up the mantel of a vigilante. His story could probably happen in any number of major cities, and it would play out similarly. What does distinguish the film, however, and one of the things I liked about it, is how Treglia and his cinematographer, Christian Lockerman, shoot the film to bring out the grittier parts of the city (you won’t see much of the downtown skyline here), and how the director uses a combination of rock and hip hop on the soundtrack to give it a unique feel. Visually, the film is much more of a success than it is narratively. Visually, and in it’s soundtrack, it’s a film that could only be Atlanta.
As storytelling, “The Atlantan” is a solid thriller about a man overwhelmed with grief, who turns to vigilante justice, combined with rekindling his former addictions with drugs, rather than confronting his emotions head on. There’s little emotional investment in the main character’s journey to his own, personal Hell, but it’s well told enough of a story to hold our attention. What we’re ultimately left with is a good genre exercise that has the potential, especially due to it’s location and soundtrack, to be more, but doesn’t quite get there. Put together the environment this filmmaker obviously loves, with a story that feels born from the streets it takes place on, and there could be a genuinely special film in store with the city Sherman burned down, and has subsequently rose up to be one of the biggest cultural centers in the country, as the backdrop.
