NOW IN THEATERS! In the seedy realm of the sport of keno – an offshoot of pool – Diana (Lili Simmons) is a thriller. Young and exquisite, she stands out within the sleazy underworld of keno that largely consists of lecherous outdated males that may promote their moms for a nickel. It’s thereby no shock that she turns heads when she saunters into the bustling, underground keno home in rural Georgia run by Nick (Kim Coates), a well-connected organizer of keno gamers and high-stakes video games.
Just what’s she doing there, and why does Diana agree to help Nick in a scheme to make use of her taking part in capacity and bodily attract to take the keno-playing world for a journey? In writer-director Tom Schulman’s Double Down South, we get solutions to those questions. We additionally get a drama-filled sports activities movie of kinds anchored by magnificent performances from Simmons, Coates, and Igby Rigney because the affable Little Nick.
Much of the movie takes place round keno tables as Diana performs in opposition to (and beats) varied odd members of the keno neighborhood. Consistently underrated due to male chauvinistic tendencies or a distraction due to her look, she accumulates a excessive profitable share in opposition to the most effective keno gamers within the area. Eventually, although, together with Little Nick, she reluctantly agrees to participate in a dishonest scheme in opposition to Beaumont DuBinion (Justin Marcel McManus), a smooth-talking keno champion with whom the elder Nick (Coates) has beforehand had a violent previous. This harrowing sequence will serve to disclose a lot that was beforehand hidden.
“…Diana agree[s] to help Nick in a scheme…to take the keno-playing world for a journey.”
Simmons is particular in Double Down South. Beneath her icy exterior is a personality with a sophisticated previous that turns into extra obvious because the movie progresses. Tough as nails, she’s greater than only a piece of eye sweet for the gathering of chubby males to gawk across the keno tables. This is her most substantial position thus far, and it’s one that ought to open lots of doorways for the younger actor. Her pairing with Coates, one other good piece of casting, is the spotlight of the movie. He’s delightfully slimy as Nick, and his efficiency brings to thoughts some nice performances of the previous, notably that of Ian McShane in Deadwood.
Schulman does a superb job of orchestrating the complicated relationships at play. He withholds essential details about Diana till late (though just a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pictures of the character present some clues). Still, her contentious skilled relationship with the deceitful Nick gives a substantial amount of pressure. This contrasts splendidly with how she works with Little Nick, an impressionable younger man clearly obsessed with Diana. Throughout the story, he appears out for Diana, warning her to not belief the older Nick.
I by no means thought I’d be enraptured by a film centered round a billiards-adjacent sport, however in Double Down South, Schulman is aware of sufficient to belief his glorious solid to suck the viewers in. Even for these not down for such representations of the Deep South, most of us will get a thrill in watching Simmons kick proverbial a*s with a pool cue. This is a hidden gem, one which we shouldn’t sleep on.
Double Down South screened on the 2022 Newport Beach Film Festival.
