Hidden gem thriller ‘deserves a bigger audience’ on TV today | Films | Entertainment
A thriller drama with a near perfect rating is being hailed a must watch, as viewers feel the movie deserves a bigger audience.
Written and directed by Robert Machoian, this little-known hidden gem is bound to keep audiences on the edge of their seats till the very end of its one hour 36 minutes runtime.
Thriller drama The Integrity of Joseph Chambers will air on television tonight, January 11, at 11.20pm on Film4.
The film’s official synopsis says: “Insurance salesman and family man Joseph Chambers wants to acquire the skills to be able to take care of his family in case of an apocalypse. He decides to go deer hunting by himself for the first time ever, despite his wife’s objections. Setting out into the mountains with a borrowed rifle, Joe roams the woods aimlessly in his search for deer.
“His boredom is short-lived, however, when in the blink of an eye, Joe undergoes a traumatic experience. What starts as an experiment to prove himself as a capable father and husband turns into a nightmare as Joe finds himself faced with a terrible choice that he must make.”
Having first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022, The Integrity of Joseph Chambers went on to become a critic favourite, scoring a smashing 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Starring Clayne Crawford in the lead, Jordana Brewster, Michael Raymond-James, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carl Kennedy, Colt Crawford, and Hix Crawford round out the movie’s supporting cast.
In a 2023 interview with Flickering Myth, lead actor Clayne Crawford said of working with director Robert Machoian: “Robert and I complement one another. He is highly technical, a photographer by trade, and a photography professor at B.Y.U. The frames he creates are so beautiful. And he allows the actor to explore the character without restraints or restrictions. His scripts are so sparse that it leaves so much room for interpretation. Again, he gives an actor the space to create freely.”
Garnering glowing reviews, one critic said of the film: “This film deserves a bigger audience. We need more movies like this that engage art and theology in equal measure; films that ask audiences to think carefully about something beautiful but hard—integrity—that we’d all do well to think about more.”
While another reviewer wrote: “With The Integrity of Joseph Chambers, Machoian doubles down on all the sensibilities that make his films so innately captivating and his latest feature film might be his most surprisingly poignant work so far.”
A third critic added: “The feature observes such misfortune with a sharp understanding of reaction and thought, giving Crawford room to act in a slow-burn but riveting study of panic.”
While another viewer said: “For the most part, this is an absorbing and nuanced character sketch, with a well-deployed supporting cast.”
The Integrity of Joseph Chambers will air on Film4 tonight, January 11, at 11.20pm.
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