There’s a micro and a macro narrative at work in writer/director Ethan Berger’s fraternity thriller The Line. On one hand, it’s a small-scale drama about Tom Backster (Alex Wolff), a promising young man who begins to question his involvement in a fraternity at prestigious Sumter College. On the grand scale, it’s a scathing indictment of how fraternities – the gateway to influence, success, and politics – are toxic, hypocritical, and ultimately dangerous.
When the film opens, Tom has a reassuring final breakfast with his concerned mother (Cheri Oteri) before heading off to sophomore year. He’s excited about living in the KNA fraternity, reuniting with his loud and boisterous best friend Mitch (Cobra Kai’s Bo Mitchell), and maybe stepping into the shoes of frat president Todd (Salem’s Lot‘s Lewis Pullman).
Things almost immediately go awry when Mitch develops an antagonistic relationship with a pledge named Gettys O’Brien (Austin Abrams). The pair get off on the wrong foot and circumstances quickly escalate into full-on animosity, with Tom caught in the middle. He quickly begins to resent constantly having to defend Mitch as well as act as a mediator between him and Gettys at fraternity events.
With KNA under scrutiny for repeated violations involving off-campus retreats and hazing rituals, there’s no question that a party at Mitch’s palatial family estate is a bad idea. In this way The Line is like a slow-motion car wreck: the film works by introducing a minor conflict, then cranks up the tension and dread in anticipation of the blow up to come. It’s a matter of “when,” not “if.”
The inevitability of the central premise, as well as the unflattering portrayal of fraternities does lend The Line an air of familiarity. Berger and co-writer Alex Russek’s screenplay isn’t exactly breaking new ground with the revelation that groups of young (often wealthy, entitled, white) men + booze + drugs = trouble. The film is less interested in surprising our expectations than it is in confirming them: all of the abhorrent, terrible things one can imagine when we hear the word “frat” is, in fact, taking place.
In that capacity, The Line is a challenging, uncomfortable watch. Laden with profanity and featuring wall-to-wall sexist, homophobic and racist characters, the dialogue can be extremely confronting. The frat bros are the walking embodiment of toxic masculinity, but the examination of its damaging effects is exactly the point of the film, as evidenced by both the film’s dialogue and mise-en-scene.
At the start of The Line, Tom boasts to his mother that “relationships are everything” and characters routinely repeat statistics about the fraternity’s 100+ year history of churning out politicians and Fortune 500 CEOs (often with the American flag in the background).
This idea is immediately and repeatedly undercut, however. Their first night back, Tom and Mitch go to dinner with Mitch’s wealthy father, Beach (John Malkovich) and mother (Denise Richards). While she fusses over profanity at the table, Beach mocks both his son’s weight and the stupidity of a former KNA brother who is now incredibly successful.
The suggestion that a fraternity fails to provide the boys with a group of supportive friends and colleagues is evident throughout the film. Characters trash talk each other behind their backs, everyone jokes that Mitch’s admission was due solely to his father’s wealth and influence, and, in a disgusting throwaway moment, a potential pledge’s picture is boo’d and his admission denied for being “too dark.”
Additionally, both Mitch and Gettys are revealed to be petty and insecure, but the group is happy to continue antagonizing both of them with slurs and profanity. As the conflict escalates and events turns deadly in the final act, the group turns on each other while publicly protecting the legacy of KNA.
Wolff’s lead performance is outstanding; he confidently anchors the film in an understated fashion. Tom is an intriguing protagonist in that he’s caught in the middle of a maelstrom that he’s reluctant to engage with. The character is a follower in a community that thrives on blind obedience and willfully engages in harm in exchange for the promise of future benefits.
As the film progresses, Tom’s growing awareness of the hypocrisy of the cultural institution he’s bought into (to the tune of $6K!) trickles out in ebbs and flows, including in his burgeoning relationship with classmate Annabelle (Halle Bailey), the sole female character of note.
Tom’s KNA frat brothers repeatedly refer to Annabelle as a “Black lesbian” (principally because she has armpit hair and no tolerance for the “R” slur). In one of the film’s most telling and most subtle scenes, Tom talks Annabelle out of visiting the frat house. It’s clear that his actions are driven by two distinct, but complimentary realizations: he understands how poorly she would be treated, but he also doesn’t want to incur more teasing comments from the others.
Mitchell and Austin are also excellent as the two stubborn instigators. Their conflict is petty and juvenile, but watching it blossom from inciting incident and infect the rest of the frat is compelling.
Technically the film’s best sequence is the climactic sequence, which cinematographer Stefan Weinberger lights like a snuff film. The imagery of pledges caught in a spotlight that obscures the shadowy faces of the abusive sophomores is unsettling. Ditto the image of “successful” pledges with hoods over their heads, left sitting in pews of a make-shift church or walking single file towards a watery embarkment. Kudos, also, to Daniel Rossen’s use of ironic patriotic drumming in key sequences.
Ultimately The Line leverages its familiar narrative to tell an often difficult and upsetting story about the dangers of toxic masculinity and so-called fraternity. The profanity-laden dialogue and entitled characters will undoubtedly turn some viewers off, but The Line never pretends it has anything but disdain for its characters and the legacy chapter they’ve pledged obedience to.
The messaging is subtle as a sledgehammer…and that’s the point.
The Line comes to VOD outlets on October 25.
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