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Epoch Times
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘Eric LaRue': A Mother Heals After Her Son's School Shooting
NR | 1h 59m | Drama | 2025 While not a faith-based film, 'Eric LaRue' examines how two different faith communities deal with a traumatic event. By comparing and contrasting them, it shows how each one comes up short. An Evangelical congregation illustrates the currently popular term 'spiritual bypassing,' that is, the use of superficial, talking-the-talk faith to avoid confronting difficult truths. The other, a Presbyterian congregation, presents an example of a well-meaning but ineffectual pastor. 'Eric LaRue' is mostly about the reaction to those sets of circumstances by the mother of the titular character. Janice LaRue's boy Eric (Judy Greer and Nation Sage Henrikson) shot and killed three bullies at his high school. Based on Chicago playwright Brett Neveu's 2002 play of the same name, this quietly powerful film version is the feature directing debut of actor Michael Shannon. Janice LaRue (Judy Greer), in 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures Shannon tells a mean story. While fairly depressing given the subject matter, the film features top-shelf acting and is highly thought-provoking. It's a shame, however, that the above-mentioned outcomes—zealous but skin-deep religion versus an incompetent priest—are the only two options presented. More on that later. The Protagonist: Janice Caustic and withdrawn, Janice is a raw lump of unresponsiveness; her nerves completely shot; her soul soaked in constant melancholy. After an annoying customer in the firearms department of the big-box store she works at triggers a screaming outburst, Janice is given the boot. Related Stories 3/28/2025 3/28/2021 Ron LaRue (Alexander Skarsgard) and Janice LaRue (Judy Greer ) are husband and wife, in 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures School shooter Eric is now incarcerated at a prison that his mom has yet to visit. As she attempts to move through her days, Janice is besieged by a local community of mostly well-meaning people who metaphorically drum their fingers impatiently on the table in the hopes she'll soon move past the horror and guilt, so they can get back to the business of feeling comfortable. But Janice won't be badgered into doing a rush-job on her grief-processing. In the local supermarket, her Presbyterian pastor, Steve Calhan (Paul Sparks) kindly confronts her, suggesting she needs to 'stop thinking about what happened and start thinking about what comes next.' He feels Janice should come to a meeting with the mothers of the murdered schoolmates, so they can all work through the trauma together. A nice idea in theory, but when the actual meetings begin, mild-mannered Steve discovers he can't handle the outpouring of rage and invective from the other mothers. Janice's Husband Meanwhile, Janice's husband Ron (Alexander Skarsgard, almost unrecognizable in beta-male mode), is slowly succumbing to the siren call of his unctuously fervent and inappropriately hug-happy HR office manager Lisa (Alison Pill). She coaxes him to jump ship to an evangelical church, run by cult-of-personality pastor Bill Verne (Tracy Letts). Pastor Verne fills fragile Ron with promises of a Jesus who will wash away Ron's pain completely and forevermore. As mentioned, Janice—not nearly as desperately in need of a life preserver as her spouse—is highly skeptical of Ron's constant and facile (if passionately zealous) parroting of Bill's banal balms and biblical bromides. One wonders what her attraction to Ron was in the first place. While she observes with mild disgust Ron's ability to find solace in platitudes, she's envious of his ability to get a good night's sleep. Ron LaRue (Alexander Skarsgard), in 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures 'Eric LaRue' Standing on the shoulders of playwright Neveu, director Shannon appears to share the same perspective; that very little genuine soul-assistance and healing exists for independent thinkers caught in the crosshairs of deep tragedy. Spiritual communities across the board obviously beg to differ. Office manager Lisa (Alison Pill) and Pastor Bill Verne (Tracy Letts) recruiting a faithful flock of evangelical churchgoers, in 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures The film's intention to be thought-provoking by advocating for Janice's stance works. It's not atheist, it's not agnostic—it just vehemently eschews the ill-used, glib, painless aspects of religion that facilitates avoidance of gazing into the abyss. Hilariously, Janice's apron, visor, and name-tag wearing boss, Jack McCoy (Lawrence Grimm), quotes Friedrich Nietzsche, saying, 'If you gaze in the abyss too long, the abyss gazes back.' Janice witheringly looks at him like the weak man she esteems him to be. As character Col. Nathan R. Jessep shouted in 'A Few Good Men,' 'You can't handle the truth!!' Jack can't handle it. Janice can. Janice sees the victims' mothers succumb to the easier path of hating her—the parent of the criminal—rather than acknowledge that she's lost her son too. She sees her husband wallow in the easier belief that other men's dead sons bask in Jesus's smile in heaven. She sees Ron refuse to face the fact that they died too soon because he didn't teach his son to how to stand up to bullying non-lethally. She sees her own son passive-aggressively insinuate that it's somehow her fault that, while sick, he vomited on himself in his cell and the prison guards took their sweet time doing anything about it. The Takeaway Greer, normally a Hollywood A-list comedienne, reveals with this performance that she can look into the tragedy abyss with the best of them. Her face registers an astounding range of emotion. What struck me the most was the facial expression she arrives at during each confrontation. This blank stare is anything but. It's akin to what Native American hunters called 'seeing eternity'—using wide-angle vision that takes in the entire landscape while simultaneously and paradoxically facilitating the ability to pinpoint the tiniest of animal movements. It's like a form of X-ray vision. Janice sees into their souls and realizes the entire herd of people surrounding her can't handle their own truth. We see her visibly find freedom in each of these revelations. Janice LaRue (Judy Greer) and her Presbyterian pastor, Steve Calhan (Paul Sparks), in 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the movie's most powerful scene is at the end. Janice, immediately after visiting her son in prison, pulls the car to the shoulder, abandons the vehicle, drops her sweater in the middle of the country road, and walks into the distance to the strains of Bob Dylan's 'Positively 4th Street,' performed by Scott Lucas & the Married Men. Janice has outgrown and shed her skin, and found freedom. It's a beautiful credit roll. It's a mutedly beautiful movie too, but anyone viewing 'Eric LaRue' would do well to chase this bitter pill with the recent documentary about faith healing, ' 'Eric LaRue' provides hope for recovery from grief. The film demonstrates that 'time heals all wounds.' Yet, in the absence of powerful faith, highly-skilled facilitators, or both, it may have to happen later than sooner. 'Eric LaRue' is about later. 'I Am Living Proof' and 'The Work' are about sooner. Promotional poster for 'Eric LaRue.' Dana Hawley/Magnolia Pictures 'Eric LaRue' is streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. 'Eric LaRue' Director: Michael Shannon Starring: Judy Greer, Alexander Skarsgard, Alison Pill, Tracy Letts, Paul Sparks MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 1 hour, 59 minutes Release Date: April 4, 2025 Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5 Would you like to see other kinds of arts and culture articles? Please email us your story ideas or feedback at
Los Angeles Times
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
In the wake of a school shooting, a mother reckons with her neighbors in ‘Eric LaRue'
As America's plague of school shootings continues unabated, a steady stream of movies has cropped up in response to the ongoing tragedy. These films have run the gamut — sometimes focusing on the survivors, sometimes on the shooters, sometimes on the parents — and likewise their strategies have varied, either promising catharsis, hope or insight. So perhaps it's fitting that the most recent addition to this sad subgenre is the numbest. After all, who needs catharsis, hope or insight when these killings keep occurring? Based on Brett Neveu's 2002 play, which he adapted into a script, the brittle drama 'Eric LaRue' reflects the intense, earnest style of its director, Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon, who makes his feature debut behind the camera. The film derives its title from the name of a teenager who decided one day to shoot dead three of his classmates, devastating a small town in general and the parents of both the victims and the shooter in specific. Shannon, who doesn't act in the movie, focuses on one parent: Eric's mother, Janice (Judy Greer), who has lived her life since the murders in a fog. She doesn't know how to act and she doesn't know how to feel. It's a testament to Shannon's direction that he fully commits to submerging us into Janice's unimaginable emotional stupor, even when that gutsy approach ultimately proves to be the film's undoing. Greer leverages her considerable appeal to play someone who would like nothing more than to be left alone. Smoking a string of cigarettes or blankly watching whatever's on television, her face a canvas of exhaustion and depression, Janice is struggling to pick up the pieces. Tellingly, the film never specifies how long ago the shooting occurred. All we know is that the trial is over and Eric is in prison, and that he's been there for enough time that Janice's ineffectual, awkward pastor Steve (Paul Sparks) is surprised she hasn't yet visited him yet. 'Eric LaRue' lays out only the barest of backstories — we learn Eric wasn't popular — but unlike a similarly mother-centered drama, 'We Need to Talk About Kevin,' the killer's motivations aren't meant to be unraveled. Eric murdered those boys and has been sent away. All Janice can do now is wonder what happens next. Most movies about school shootings, including 'Elephant,' 'Mass' and 'The Fallout,' tackle the shock, sorrow and horror that ripple through communities. But Shannon's starchy tone, accented by Jonathan Mastro's mournful score, allows no room for emotional theatrics or pat psychological breakthroughs. Instead, 'Eric LaRue' critiques society's (and maybe also Hollywood's) need to make sense of senselessness. Everyone around Janice is trying to find ways to come to terms with what happened, but Janice unflinchingly wants no part. The problem is, she's not quite sure what it is she does want. Eric's act has driven a wedge between Janice and her husband, Ron (Alexander Skarsgård). Both characters are religious, but after the shooting, Ron drifted away from Steve's Presbyterian church, seduced by Bill (Tracy Letts), a charismatic (and regressive) pastor who tells the fragile Ron what he wants to hear about putting his faith in a Jesus who will wash away his pain. Janice, who is unwilling or unable to open up, is not nearly as needy as her spouse, who starts espousing biblical platitudes with the desperate certainty of a drowning man grateful for any life raft. Although Greer is a terrific comedic actress, she only shows that side occasionally in 'Eric LaRue' and very subtly, once Janice starts to react to Ron's empty philosophizing. There's an integrity to Janice's prickly resistance to soothing herself with touchy-feely God talk, although as she watches Ron find solace in Bill's drivel, we sense hints of envy: At least he can sleep at night. Banal balms surround Janice, slowly driving her mad. Whether it's at the hardware store where Janice works — an insipid motivational poster hangs on the boss' wall encouraging passersby to 'Commit to change! Change to commit!' — or Steve's own clumsy attempts to bring Janice and the victims' mothers together for a meeting so they can 'heal,' Shannon laments how little genuine assistance there is for people caught in the crosshairs of tragedy. 'Eric LaRue' is best when its quietest points strike loudest. Janice's superiors advise her against returning to work — it's bad for employee morale, they explain — and yet, no one at Ron's office job, including Alison Pill's flirty HR director Lisa (a fervent follower of Bill's), bats an eye about having him around. Such insidious sexism appears throughout 'Eric LaRue' as Janice unknowingly places herself inside a metaphorical cage because she won't follow an unwritten rulebook about how a grieving mom is 'supposed' to behave. Withdrawn and caustic, Janice is a raw lump of unresponsiveness bombarded by those determined to 'fix' her. But when the psychological wounds cut so deep, how can she possibly know what fixing herself would even mean? Longtime Shannon collaborator Jeff Nichols serves as an executive producer and 'Eric LaRue' echoes that filmmaker's careful attention to unexamined pockets of American life, specifically, the uneasy tension between God and guns. Unfortunately, the film lacks Nichols' graceful portrayal of the everyday. Despite its respectful restraint, 'Eric LaRue' can be smothering in its solemnity, leaving Janice feeling one-note rather than a woman lost in her tangle of emotions. And some of the supporting performances are simplistic, with Sparks' Steve unbelievably hapless as a spiritual guide and Skarsgård's Ron a cartoonish imagining of blind religious devotion. But just when the film's missteps start to frustrate, the story lands on a stunningly understated moment that suggests the potentially rich character study underneath. Eventually, Janice will visit her son, played provocatively by Nation Sage Henrikson. The ending shouldn't be spoiled, but even at its finale, 'Eric LaRue' refuses to provide clear-cut clues on how to feel about this mother or her boy. There will be more school shootings and inevitably more movies confronting this epidemic. Shannon laudably offers no easy solutions, although his sincerely crafted dead end feels insufficient in its own way.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Michael Shannon on the weighty subject matter of his directorial debut 'Eric LaRue'
Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon joins Morning Joe to discuss directing the new film 'Eric LaRue,' an adaptation of a 2002 play about a mother coping with the fallout after her son murders three of his high school classmates.
Chicago Tribune
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Afternoon Briefing: Firefighters say city searched personal vehicles for weapons
Good afternoon, Chicago. A group of Chicago firefighters have accused the city and the Chicago Fire Department of violating their Fourth and 14th Amendment rights during a set of vehicle searches in late February. In a federal lawsuit, 23 firefighters alleged that CFD investigators went through firefighters' personal vehicles for guns and weapons on Feb. 27 and 28 at Engine 86's fire station in the Dunning neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The firefighters, engineers, paramedics and lieutenants were being represented in court by attorneys from their union, the International Association of Firefighters. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. As environmental justice ordinance nears City Council introduction, activists express hopes and frustrations More than a year after its planned introduction, an environmental ordinance that aims to address decades of discriminatory planning, zoning and land-use policies in Chicago will finally be brought before the City Council. Read more here. Microsoft pulls back on data centers from Chicago to Jakarta Microsoft Corp. has pulled back on data center projects around the world, suggesting the company is taking a harder look at its plans to build the server farms powering artificial intelligence and the cloud. Read more here. Chicago baseball report: Colin Rea steps up for Cubs — and White Sox starters put together impressive streak After spending the past week in Phoenix and West Sacramento, California, following their first two regular-season games in Tokyo against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs open their Wrigley Field slate tomorrow versus the San Diego Padres. Read more here. Chicago Bulls' Coby White is playing his most consistent basketball yet. And he has redefined himself in the process. Sean Decker, president of the new ownership group, on Kane County Cougars: 'This is the class of the league.' Wrigley Field debuts menu with jibaritos, baseball doughnuts and fried ranch bombs When the Cubs play their first home game of the season on Friday against the San Diego Padres, one of the debut items will be a roast beef jibarito sandwich. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: Column: Years ago, Brett Neveu's 'Eric LaRue' unnerved Chicago audiences. Now it's a Michael Shannon movie. 'Pulse' review: Netflix attempts its own version of 'Grey's Anatomy' Some conservative voices raise alarm over Trump's immigration tactics Influential figures on the right have largely cheered on the opening months of the Trump presidency. But as the administration has rushed to carry out deportations as quickly as possible, making mistakes and raising concerns about due process along the way, the unified front in favor of Trump's immigration purge is beginning to crack. Read more here.
Chicago Tribune
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Years ago, Brett Neveu's ‘Eric LaRue' unnerved Chicago audiences. Now it's a Michael Shannon movie.
Temperamentally different as they are, the playwright, screenwriter and Northwestern University professor Brett Neveu, a peppy, zigzaggy thinker and talker, has a lot in common with the formidable actor, musician and first-time film director Michael Shannon. The commonalities begin with a propensity to juggle more projects, more or less simultaneously, than would seem humanly plausible. Their joint collaborations spring from the Chicago storefront theater mainstay A Red Orchid Theatre. That was where Neveu's play 'Eric LaRue,' a tense, mordantly comic drama about what Shannon calls 'the aftermath of the aftermath' of a school shooting, had its world premiere 23 years ago. Shannon didn't direct it, but he co-founded Red Orchid and found himself going back to see the company's show several times, he said. 'At that time Brett was just starting out as a playwright. I mean, we were all so young.' A few hundred school shootings later, Shannon makes his film directorial debut with 'Eric LaRue,' starring Judy Greer as Janice LaRue, the mother of a killer of three fellow students. Everyone in the presumably Midwestern town, based somewhat on Neveu's Iowa hometown of Newton, wants Janice to snap out of it. Move on. Redirect her grief somehow. The play and the film hinge on a well-meaning but terrible idea. Not one but two different religious leaders in town, representing their respective, rival church communities, vie for the spiritual honor of bringing together Janice and the mothers of her son's victims in the same room, for an honest conversation about how they're feeling about the tragedy. Shannon's now a resident of Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his wife and fellow actor Kate Arrington (who's excellent in the role of one of the seething mothers) and their daughters. Neveu lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, with his wife, artist Kristen Neveu, and their daughter. 'Eric LaRue' premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and took two long years to find a distributor (Magnolia Pictures, ultimately). Partly it's a matter of forbidding subject matter, though Neveu's writing doesn't fit conventional notions of how stories like this are treated. Partly, too, 'Eric LaRue' took two years because the world and its screen industries — in nearly every economically and ideologically perplexed respect — don't know where they are or how to proceed right now. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Michael, 'Eric LaRue' strikes me as eternally topical but not really primarily so. Also, it's an eternal hard sell, and a generation older than it was when A Red Orchid Theatre first produced it. Shannon: Yeah. It was the play we did right after we did Tracy Letts' 'Bug' in 2001. Guy Van Swearingen (the theater's co-founder, along with Shannon and Lawrence Grimm) got to know Brett, called him up after Kirsten Fitzgerald (now the Red Orchid artistic director) did a reading at Chicago Dramatists. Guy was crazy about it. I had nothing to do with the Red Orchid production, except for going back to see it, like, seven or eight times. Q: Brett, I remember having a wildly mixed response to the play right after I got to Chicago, 20-plus years ago. I'm not sure I really got what you were up to. The film adaptation makes me realize it's topical but in ways that seem to have transcended what we usually think of as topicality. You wrote it not long after the 1999 Columbine school shooting, right? Neveu: When we did it, back in the day, we had discussions around that idea of making sure it wasn't just topical in a way that would, you know, fade quickly. I tend to write about things that are bugging me, and try to write stories that aren't being told. Or told enough. But lately, just in the last few months, people seem to be gravitating towards what's in the background of 'Eric LaRue,' with what we've seen in the new series 'The Pitt' and what happens in the British series 'Adolescence.' I don't want to give it all away, but those really wrenching situations. But people are responding. They're watching. I don't think audiences necessarily turn away from tough subject matter. These are real issues on our minds. Q: In 'Eric LaRue' there's a queasy absurdity to a lot of what Janice endures from her husband, her pastor and just about everyone she knows. Have you heard from folks who basically say, How dare you mine this tragedy for even a speck of black humor? Neveu: There've been a few questions, but they're more open-minded, I think. They want to know why something in it strikes them funny in certain places. People are smart, they know that in dark situations, there's a pressure valve, and it's connected to a kind of absurdity. Michael and I think about this a lot. Q: Michael, after you made 'The Shape of Water' with Guillermo del Toro, you told me you were taking more and more of an interest on set in what was going on with camera decisions, the design of a boom shot, all of it. And now you've made your first film as director. Shannon: Well, my interest in photography predates my film career. When I was a teenager I'd take a lot of pictures. My mom still has a lot of them, the black-and-white pictures I took. To me it's terribly exciting to be in this space of figuring out where the camera should be, and what lens should be on it. I see the utility in it, the value of it. I can't say I'm following in the footsteps of any particular director I've worked with. If anything, I'm inspired by someone I never had the pleasure of working with: Mr. David Lynch, no longer with us. I see some of his influence in 'Eric LaRue.' Q: I see that in how you chose to hold a reaction shot a little longer than usual, two, three seconds. Which is longer than 99% of the films would hold it. Shannon: Yeah. I was very meticulous about that in the edit. It was all about frames. I was like, 'OK, take three frames off. OK, put two back on.' If I could've split a frame in half, I would've done it. The rhythm of this film is not a happy accident. You can ask my editor. I trust my editor implicitly. But he'll tell you, I was like a hawk. Q: This material can be crushingly sad, but there's zero melodrama in it. It's not what people are used to seeing with this subject. Shannon: I appreciate hearing that. That was important to me. Q: Brett, what's next? With you, that question usually leads to a pretty complicated answer. Neveu: I'm working on a film project called 'Brilliant Blue,' with nonprofessional actors, high school students, mostly, and a professional crew. It's a training and mentoring research project, part of my tenure track at Northwestern. And it's my directing debut! My daughter's doing production design on it, and a lot of her friends are in it. What else … I'm working on a script called 'Better World' with Michael and Judy, and also with Michael Patrick Thornton. I'm doing a documentary about my dad called 'Infinite Lives,' and his being the world's oldest consecutive video game player. Then, let's see, we're doing my play 'Revolution' at the Flea Theater in New York, it premiered at A Red Orchid in 2023. And I've got a new musical called 'Behind a Clear Blue Sky' with Jason Narducy. We wrote the musical 'Verboten' for the House Theatre right before COVID. Jason and Michael just got back from doing R.E.M. shows on tour. There's more, but that's enough for now. You know how I work. I throw a bunch of things against the wall, and this time seven of them kinda stuck. Q: Michael, you're doing Eugene O'Neill's 'Moon for the Misbegotten' in London at the Almeida this summer, and what else? Shannon: I've got 'Nuremberg' coming out, with Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, John Slattery and me. I've got 'Death by Lightning,' which is a Netflix series, coming out. I play President (James A.) Garfield in that one. Nick Offerman, another Chicago guy, plays Chester A. Arthur. Matthew Macfadyen (as Garfield's assassin, Charles Guiteau), Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham. Great cast. Q: This is stating the obvious, but it is not an easy time for any movie to find its audience — Shannon: We just got off our weekly meeting with Magnolia for 'Eric LaRue,' and they're saying it's hard to even get your film reviewed in Los Angeles. Which is strange, considering Los Angeles is still ostensibly the home of our industry. There's something deeply wrong with that. But, you know, look at 'Anora' winning the Oscar for best picture, that's a spark of hope for me. It's not all doom and gloom. But I hear what you're saying. Our movie played Tribeca two frickin' years ago and it's just now coming out. On the other hand, the timing feels right to me somehow. You know. The way things are in America now. The climate of things (pause). I'll leave it at that. 'Eric LaRue' opens April 4 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.; Streaming on April 11.
