THE STORY – From civilians to criminals to addicts to law enforcement, and everyone in between, all walks of life intersect in this exposé about the pandemic that is fentanyl; street name: “King Ivory.” It is business as usual for Tulsa drug cop, Layne West, battling the local criminal element, which hits too close to home when his son, Jack, gets hooked on fentanyl. In conjunction with his partner, Ty, and FBI counterpart, Beatty, West makes it his mission in life to take down those responsible, including the Mexican cartel’s local shot-caller, Ramón Garza, Indian Brotherhood War Chief, Holt Lightfeather, who controls state-wide trafficking while serving life inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester a.k.a. “Big Mac”, and the local Irish Mob family outfit, led by George “Smiley” Greene, along with his mother, Ginger, and uncle, Mickey. As Holt educates West during a prison visit, “The cartels want your kids, the next generation, who want what is new, and fentanyl is new”.
THE CAST – Ben Foster, James Badge Dale, Michael Mando, Melissa Leo, Graham Greene, Rory Cochrane, Ritchie Coster & George Carroll
THE TEAM – John Swab (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 130 Minutes
Playing in the Orizzonti Extra section of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, “King Ivory,” a hard-hitting crime thriller from writer-director John Swab (“Candyland”), is based on extensive research with drug cops, traffickers, prisoners, migrants, and addicts. Accordingly, it has a palpable air of authenticity and packs a powerfully emotional punch.
Taking its title from a slang term for the synthetic drug fentanyl, the film is set in present-day Oklahoma, with the script weaving an intricate web that will ultimately connect several different characters. Roughly speaking, there are three separate storyline groups, each containing multiple characters. In the first, Mexican drug lord Ramon Garza (Michael Mando from “Breaking Bad”) conducts a wide-ranging drug trafficking operation in Oklahoma, having agreed on a territory deal with Holt Lightfeather (Graham Greene), the imprisoned leader of the Indian Brotherhood (IBH) cartel. Throughout Ramon’s operation, he recruits Lago (David De La Barcena), a young Mexican immigrant, and puts him to work as a dealer.
In the second group, Oklahoma drug cop Layne West (James Badge Dale) and his partner and best friend Ty Grady (George Carroll) tackle the rise of fentanyl on the streets of Tulsa, busting stash houses and trying to get to the cartel leaders. Meanwhile, Layne’s teenage son Jack (Jasper Jones) gets turned on to drugs by his stoner girlfriend Colby (Kaylee Curry).
In the third group, serial convict George “Smiley” Greene (Ben Foster) obtains an early release from prison after carrying out a hit on a pair of fellow inmates at the behest of Lightfeather. Once back on the streets, he continues to enforce Lightfeather’s orders, aided by his drug-addict Uncle, known as “Mickey the Hoop” (Ritchie Coster), and his hard-as-nails mother, Ginger (Melissa Leo).
The film is impressively written, structured, and edited, particularly in how the various characters intersect at different points. This is especially effective because it creates the sense of a giant drug-based ecosystem that affects everyone’s lives, regardless of race or class.
On a similar note, the characters are interesting and compellingly drawn. Stand-outs include Foster’s Smiley, who speaks through an electrolarynx and whose quiet, politely-spoken demeanor belies his propensity for murderous violence. There’s also Coster’s Mickey, who’s simultaneously chilling but a total screw-up, lending the film a handful of darkly funny moments.
The performances are strong across the board. Mando is terrific as Garza (if you squint a bit, you can see his role as a continuation of his “Breaking Bad” character), lending him a degree of humanity and compassion you don’t normally see in druglords, while Dale is superb as the beleaguered cop facing pressure both at home and at work. Similarly, there are strong turns from both Melissa Leo and Graham Greene (two of America’s finest character actors, both in top form here). George Carroll delivers a surprisingly tender portrayal as Ty, a character who could have easily just been standard sidekick material (dumb jokes, loyalty, etc.). Still, he has a scene with Jones genuinely moving in its heartfelt simplicity.
As a director, Swab’s sense of rhythm, pace, and balance is exceptional, expertly juggling several different storylines, all of which are equally compelling. He also knows his way around a decent action sequence, staging several exciting shoot-outs and violent encounters. One, in particular, is brilliantly blocked and staged, taking place behind a plastic curtain of a supermarket storeroom; it’s a shocking moment that works beautifully without the audience seeing any gory details. In addition, Swab stages a sequence of pure horror involving a truckload of migrants. The scene is claustrophobic, haunting, and utterly terrifying thanks to strong performances, skillful editing, and superlative sound design work. Indeed, it’s likely to leave audiences gasping for breath.
The film earns an extra degree of immediacy by way of its hard-hitting message, essentially illustrating the degree by which fentanyl has become an epidemic in the U.S. There’s no sign of hope here, either, with key characters lamenting that everything the law enforcement officers do is ultimately for nothing, as everyone is ultimately dependent on the drug in one way or another.
