The Parts You Lose
The Parts You Lose is a 2019 American thriller film starring Aaron Paul and Danny Murphy as a fugitive criminal and a deaf boy who befriend one another. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Scoot McNairy also star as the boy's parents. The film is directed by Christopher Cantwell based on a screenplay by Darren Lemke. The H Collective financed Gran Via's production of the film. Filming took place in Winnipeg, Canada. The Parts You Lose had its world premiere on March 14, 2019 at the 2019 Sun Valley Film Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho. Samuel Goldwyn Films released the film commercially in the United States on October 4, 2019.
The Parts You Lose | |
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Directed by | Christopher Cantwell |
Written by | Darren Lemke |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Evans Brown |
Edited by | Heather Persons |
Music by | Austin Fray |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Samuel Goldwyn Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Synopsis
A deaf 10-year-old boy, Wesley, lives on a small farm in North Dakota and commutes to a school for the deaf. He is bullied at the school; at home, he has a good relationship with his mother, though not his father. One day he comes across an injured man who he helps recover, and they become friends. The man teaches the boy how to stand up to the school bully and his father. The police come looking for the man, and Wesley struggles with being loyal to his new friend.[1]
Cast
- Aaron Paul as The Man
- Danny Murphy as Wesley
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Gail
- Scoot McNairy as Ronnie
- Charlee Park as Amber
Production
The Parts You Lose is directed by Christopher Cantwell based on a screenplay by Darren Lemke. The film's production is financed and overseen by The H Collective.[2] The film originated in 2015 as a German-Canadian co-production based on a screenplay by Lemke and with Dutch director Paula van der Oest attached. Actor Aaron Paul was cast in May of that year, with filming scheduled to begin in the Manitoba province of Canada in the last few months of 2015.[3] By November, Carice van Houten was also cast, with filming having been pushed back to the second quarter of 2016.[4] Van der Oest and Van Houten eventually left the project; these changes and production delays postponed filming.[5]
By June 2017, the production-financing entity The H Collective was launched with The Parts You Lose among a dozen films it began financing.[6] By the following November, Cantwell was hired as the new director to film Lemke's script. British deaf actor Danny Murphy, who is fluent in British Sign Language,[7] was cast as the deaf boy who befriends Paul's character. Murphy was cast after an international casting search, supported by Deaf West Theatre, for a hard of hearing actor.[8] In the following December, actors Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Scoot McNairy were cast as the deaf boy's parents.[9][2] McNairy had previously starred in the TV series Halt and Catch Fire (2014–2017), of which Cantwell was one of the creators and showrunners.[2]
Principal photography started in Winnipeg in the Manitoba province of Canada on December 5, 2017.[9] Since Murphy and his character use sign language, producers involved students and staff from Winnipeg's Manitoba School for the Deaf. Joanna Hawkins was hired as an American Sign Language consultant. Students and teachers were also filmed in scenes using sign language.[10] Mary Elizabeth Winstead previously worked with Aaron Paul on Smashed but in this film Paul had completed filming before she arrived and they had no scenes together.[11]
By March 2018, The Parts You Lose was in post-production.[12] By the following October, the film was officially finished.[13]
Release
The Parts You Lose had its world premiere on March 14, 2019 at the 2019 Sun Valley Film Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho.[14] The film also screened at the Stony Brook Film Festival on July 26, 2019.[15]
Samuel Goldwyn Films released The Parts You Lose on October 4, 2019.[16] It had acquired United States distribution rights in the previous March.[17]
Reception
The film review website Metacritic surveyed 6 critics and assessed 2 reviews as positive, 2 as mixed, and 2 as negative. It gave an aggregate score of 47 out of 100, which it said indicated "mixed or average reviews".[18] The similar website Rotten Tomatoes surveyed 18 critics and, categorizing the reviews as positive or negative, assessed 12 as positive and 6 as negative. Of the 18 reviews, it determined an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. It gave the film a score of 67%.[19]
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Paul and young Danny Murphy are terrific together, with Paul playing a wounded bear growling his lines and Murphy delivering a fully realized performance. And for such a bleak and harsh tale, The Parts You Lose finds some rays of light at the end of the night."[20] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter complained about the wasted dramatic potential of the film, "The Parts You Lose somehow manages to be both unmoving and tension-free, wasting the talents of several notable actors in the process."[21]
References
- "The Parts You Lose – Samuel Goldwyn Films". samuelgoldwynfilms.com. Samuel Goldwyn Films. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- N'Duka, Amanda (December 13, 2017). "'Halt And Catch Fire' Star Scoot McNairy Cast In 'The Parts You Lose'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- Kilday, Gregg (May 8, 2015). "Cannes: Aaron Paul to Star in Drama 'The Parts You Lose'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- McNary, Dave (November 5, 2015). "Carice Van Houten Joins Aaron Paul's 'The Parts You Lose'". Variety. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- Roxborough, Scott (November 1, 2018). "First Look: Aaron Paul Breaks Bad for 'The Parts You Lose'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- McNary, Dave (June 19, 2017). "'xXx' Sequel, Aaron Paul's 'The Parts You Lose' Get Backing From H Collective". Variety. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- N'Duka, Amanda (November 28, 2017). "Christopher Cantwell Tapped To Direct Aaron Paul In 'The Parts You Lose'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
- Galuppo, Mia (November 28, 2017). "'Halt and Catch Fire' Creator to Direct Aaron Paul in 'The Parts You Lose'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- McNary, Dave (December 5, 2017). "Film News Roundup: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Joins Aaron Paul in 'The Parts You Lose'". Variety. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- Hendricks, Jon (January 12, 2018). "Manitoba kids to make Hollywood debut". winnipeg.ctvnews.ca. CTV News. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
- "Mary Elizabeth Winstead's 'Birds of Prey' Work Was 20 Years in the Making". The Hollywood Reporter.
- Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 20, 2018). "H Collective Lands Aaron W. Sala Horror Spec 'The Beast'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- The H Collective (October 4, 2018). "It's time to jump in the air with excitement, because The Parts You Lose is officially FINISHED!". Twitter. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- Staff. "The Parts You Lose". sunvalleyfilmfestival.org. Sun Valley Film Festival. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- Staff (June 10, 2019). "A World of Cinema Comes to the 24th Stony Brook Film Festival". news.stonybrook.edu. Stony Brook University. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- Guzman, Rafer (June 10, 2019). "This year's Stony Brook Film Fest spotlights movies about families". Newsday. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- Russian, Ale (August 6, 2019). "Aaron Paul Is a Fugitive on the Run in Thrilling Trailer for The Parts You Lose". People. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- Hipes, Patrick (March 14, 2019). "Aaron Paul-Starrer 'The Parts You Lose' Acquired By Samuel Goldwyn". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
- "The Parts You Lose". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- "The Parts You Lose (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- Roeper, Richard (4 October 2019). "'The Parts You Lose': For bullied boy, this bad guy doesn't seem so bad". Chicago Sun-Times.
- Frank Scheck (Oct 3, 2019). "'The Parts You Lose': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.