River of Grass

A bravura performance from Victor Webster is the stand-out in director and co-star Derek Magyar’s hard-hitting River of Grass. A prolific TV and film actor, Magyar’s latest directorial effort explores the dark side of a seemingly celebratory military homecoming.

Larry Johnson (Dylan McTee) returns home from the Vietnam war to a warm family celebration. However, Larry’s abrasive elder brother, Robert (Webster), clearly feels otherwise. When Larry then accompanies Robert on a shady family business venture in the Florida Everglades, events soon take a dark and devastating turn…

In terms of its performances, River of Grass is first-class all the way. All the cast are splendid but the real highlight is Webster. His character is ruthless, tough and uncompromising. It’s a powerful turn and Webster shows terrific presence. Indeed, it’s clear that Webster (with the right script) would be a brilliant bad guy in a major production. Indeed, Magyar’s impressive drama has the potential for further development and it would be fascinating to see Webster explore the darkness of Robert Johnson further. This could well be a memorable TV antagonist in the making.

As Larry, McTee is equally impressive taking on the familiar role of a traumatised Vietnam veteran but, at the same time, delivering an always believable and heart-breaking performance. One can’t help but feel here that the wrong brother went to Vietnam and, in many ways, that dilemma feels at the heart of Magyar’s story. As soon as they share the screen together, we get the sense of a painful history between the two brothers. Perhaps, Larry didn’t go to fight the Vietnamese. He went to fight Robert. He returns decorated and honoured, but he’s mentally broken and wounded and maladjusted to life back home; the family scenes with Larry’s barely-suppressed rage and trauma breaking the festivities evoking Bradley Cooper’s performance in Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper. Even worse, he’s no different to the ever-domineering Robert. He’s still “Baby Larry” and dressed “like a marshmallow”.

Magyar closes his piece with a dazzling firework display, with a tearful Larry gazing on hopelessly. His life has already been altered forever in war. Now, his chance of normal life back home has gone too. He is mocked repeatedly by Webster and Darren Darnborough’s snake-like rogue for failing to understand the tough underbelly of the world he left behind. In reality, they have no clue of the horrors he’s seen. In its 16 minutes, River of Grass presents us with characters who seem unable to comprehend the real world out there - regardless of how tough they are in their own - and seem destined, no matter where they are or what they do, to face and cause devastation.