Writer-director Noah Millman rarely offers his audience easy answers in Resentment, tackling more than infidelity in the face of creative frustration. With a single location and an ensemble cast who can count The Wire, The Walking Dead, and Succession among their screen credits, all he needs to do is watch their worlds unravel. Capturing martial trysts and dissecting friendships on camera as each one lives their own lie.
Patch Darragh and Lawrence Gilliard Jr are front and centre playing creatives who find their friendship threatened when things take a personal turn. David is a perpetual perfectionist who sees his life as half empty, lamenting the wasted opportunities he failed to exploit, held back by a partnership that never allowed him the freedom to flourish. Patch Darragh is equal parts extrovert and overthinker within his skin, revelling in the frailties of this outspoken industry player.
By comparison Lawrence Gilliard Jr imbues Coleman with a street wise sheen of self-awareness that sits in opposition to David, projecting success without making it obvious. On the surface their friendship feels self-serving since they are both able to help each other. However, both actors work hard to cement their personal relationship in those early scenes, inviting audiences into their confidence before pulling the rug out from under.
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Patch Darragh clearly embraces the bravado of David, but Jen Ponton feels underwritten as Trish and two-dimensional despite her moments of showmanship. Resentment may have some serious things to say on the topic of relationships, but this should have been all about them and Coleman together, minus those film industry segues.
Resentment comes unstuck in that transition from two-handed melodrama into uncharted arthouse territory as it depicts infidelity honestly. Asking audiences to embrace that overt depiction of desire threatens to unravel character moments that made Resentment so compelling early on.
Not enough screentime is devoted to establishing attraction, and therefore any connection feels rushed and unconvincing. This may burst the bubble of believability for some and diminish the drama that this film works so hard to establish. Making any emotional payoffs feel superficial and contrived rather than brutal and bloody.
Only in the latter stages of Resentment does Noah Millman show audiences what his film might have been. That revelation and reveal hints at something much more profound in those closing minutes than he ever gets to elsewhere. David has dropped his defences and there is an honesty that makes up for those missteps into arthouse territory. However, whether the implications in that final reel really do enough heavy lifting to honestly elevate Resentment only time will tell.
Resentment is available on Prime Video now.