Head Count (2023) A joyfully nostalgic crime thriller that recalls the late 90s glory days (Review)

When people say, “They don’t make films like that anymore” – usually it’s movies that wouldn’t hold up to the social norms of the contemporary era. A homophobic, racist, sexist or transphobic joke here or there ages a film harder than just about anything else. I should say this is the case most of the time, not all of the time because here I am saying it about Ben & Jacob Burghart’s feature debut, Head Count – out now on VOD via Blue Finch Film Releasing. I am not saying they don’t make movies like Head Count because of any social faux pas. I am saying it because it brings me back to the late 1990s – an era that saw a spectrum scaling from copycats to those shallowly chasing the success of Quentin Tarantino’s one-two punch of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Opening with the gambit of Kat (Aaron Jakubenko) sat in a grain silo with a gun pointed towards the back of his head, with two assailants lingering out of focus. The question racing through his head is a simple one: how many bullets are left in his gun (which these two men liberated from his ownership). At which point, events rewind a few days to when Kat is a prisoner in a chain gang and somehow he escapes due to a lack of planning on the two policemen’s part (one of whom is played by Ryan Kwanten) and the emergence of a bear out of shot who has a hankering for prisoner with a side of more prisoner. A great scene that really puts us into the headspace of the Burghart’s feature debut. After which the movie zips back and forth between the present and multiple different points in the past at which bullets where discharged (as well as a few choice bits of character background and context).

The 90s Tarantino connection is a pertinent one for multiple reasons. First is the simple fact that Head Count embodies the same calibre of weird characters, corrupt police, non-linearity and criminal anarchy that defines the fan-favourite’s best, early work. The second is the aesthetics. The Burgharts are playing from the same 1970s influence crib-sheet from little touches like the typeface in the title card and credits to the music from the incredibly named Chase Horseman. The brothers took the right sort of notes, nostalgic for an older film, incorporating what worked from those films into theirs rather than the simple bone-headed retro fetishism that has continually gut-punched one school of modern independent horror.

Non-linearity is a funny old chestnut. Is it wilfully obfuscating and confusing matters as part of some arch ploy? Or is a writer describing events out of order to put them back together later? The script by the Burghart Brothers and Josh Doke is neither of those things. Instead, they use non-linearity in a register closer to that of the hang-out movie. Meaning we are just spending some time with Kat, his previous love interest (Melanie Zanetti), his brother and a rogue gallery that linger around the edges – including a less than sweaky clean cop played by Ryan Kwanten. The story isn’t building to something – the 6 or so happenings (incluing a flashback to why Kat doesn’t play blackjack anymore) contain mini-stories in service of nothing more than explaining what happened to the bullets. And usually those involve something going badly for the anti-hero. The languid, imprecise plotting may frustrate those looking for answers and an ABC plot – as, like I said as I opened this review, they frustratingly don’t really make movies like this anymore.

There’s a double-edged sword to employing traits and ideas out of the cultural discourse and purview, which fundamentally comes down to there not really being a taste out there for this style of story. Head Count has inventive, motivated cinematography – rather than just pretty visuals for pretty visual’s sake. A strong cast across the board – even if everyone is far too attractive for a script which repeatedly talks about this being a dead-end town full of wrong uns and no prospects. The music is great and adds a real personality to the proceedings. Each self-contained scene is every bit as tense as you’d wish, and more, the script and its performances are never less than well characterised by actors who share a strong chemistry. Head Count is a striking movie to the extent that I really have to apologise for ending this sentence with a “but”. 

Tarantino is an important touchstone to revisit – he recycled things from the past, turning a mulch of influences into something with real cut-through. Slightly misleading and non-descript title to one side, Ben & Jacob Burghart’s feature debut, Head Count, is a strong movie that is a joy to spend time with for 90 minutes. But where the likes of Tarantino and those he inspired who went on to become big dogs in their own right, those movies had a mythical X factor that pushed them above and beyond their influences. Unfortunately, as strong and entertaining as this new Blue Finch Film Release is, it lacks that touch of magic to elevate it in a similar way. 

ROB’S ARCHIVE – HEAD COUNT