Director – Ben Wheatley – 2025 – US – Cert. 15 – 90m
*****
Following the recent death of the town’s sheriff, an interim sheriff takes on the job at Normal, Minnesota – a town harbouring dark secrets related to Japanese yakuza – out in UK cinemas on Friday, May 15th
Osaka, Japan. Three yakuza gang members who have failed to carry out a job properly must atone in front of their boss by cutting off their little finger. The two that do so are sent to the US on their next mission.
Normal, Minnesota. Following the recent death of old Sheriff Gunderson, Interim Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk from Nobody, Ilya Naishuller, 2021; Better Call Saul, TV series, 2015-22) is getting to grips with his new job, driving around with Deputy Mike (Billy MacLellan from Nobody; Maudie, Aisling Walsh, 2016). Ulysses will be in the town for a mere eight weeks and his philosophy is, don’t upset anything and leave the place as you find it.
Normal may hold a few surprises for Ulysses. Such as the day he discovers a trail of red outside the door which turns out to have been caused by the local moose with a can of red paint dangling from one antler, of which he takes a photo. A later conversation with the mayor (Henry Winkler from Happy Days, TV series 1974–1984) reveals that the latter believes himself the only person in town never to have seen the moose. At Sheriff Gunderson’s wake, the mayor tells Ulysses that the deceased froze to death while fishing, that sport being a common pastime in the town. Yet something doesn’t quite add up.
A chance meeting and a shared bottle of cheap whiskey with the old Sheriff’s surviving daughter Alex (Jess McLeod), refused admission to her father’s wake earlier, confirms Ulysses’ suspicions that something is off.
In the street, he gets off on the right foot with local bartender Moira (Lena Headey from Game of Thrones, TV series, 2011-19; 300, Zack Snyder, 2006; Waterland, Stephen Gyllenhall, 1992) when he leaves her a parking ticket which reads simply: “park better”. Later, in her bar, he reveals his current lost state of mind derives from a case where he put a bullet in the head of an upstanding local citizen who was abusing his daughter.
For what seems like about an hour, Ulysses gets to know the town and its occupants one by one. The man who complains that an item in a local store is two thirds the price on Amazon. The friendly assistant in the Sheriff’s office who always produces a cheery word or a cup of coffee just when it’s needed. The tough Deputy Blaine (Ryan Allen), who likely as not is going to be the next Sheriff. Lori (Reena Jolly) who is struggling to get an item she paid for out of a vending machine, who when Ulysses is not around discusses plans for an upcoming job with her partner Keith (Brendan Fletcher from The Revanant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015). The old lady who runs the wool store who is upset that her supplier sent the wrong colour. The bar where the walls are decorated with loaded guns.
All the time, the mystery of the old sheriff’s death lurks beneath the surface. And then, an alarm in the Sheriff’s office indicates a robbery at the bank. An incident which simultaneously triggers an alert in Osaka causing the yakuza from the opening scene (among them Takahiro Inoue and Shota Tsuji both from The Man in the High Castle, TV series, 2018-19) to board a ten-hour flight to the US to get to Normal. Before they arrive, Ulysses finds himself in the bank, which is being robbed by Lori and Keith who have found its contents to be very different from what they expected, and takes their side, which pits him in an all-out war with everyone else in the town from the Mayor, through Japanese bank guard Joe (Peter Shinkoda from The Man in the High Castle; Paycheck, John Woo, 2003), right that way down to the wool shop lady, with one exception: the late Sheriff’s daughter.
By the time everything has been resolved, the arriving Japanese (can be kept happy with a drink at the local bar. At least, until one of the loaded guns falls off the wall and sparks a freak accident causing another round of mayhem…
While the first hour or so boasts precious little action, the cast and crew work with a beautifully crafted script by Derek Kolstad (Nobody, 2021; John Wick, 2014) to bring a bunch of memorably quirky characters to life. Odenkirk is perfect as the sheriff trying to keep the town coasting along as normal (no pun intended) while simultaneously doing his job and battling personal demons. Winkler brings to his role as the Mayor the same likeability as his popular Happy Days character The Fonz. Lena Heady gives her bartender a quality that you feel you could trust her, as Ulysses does; quite possibly a misplaced trust.
The first hour is as much about the town of Normal itself as it is about its occupants. It’s a little place, arguably the spiritual heart of America where everyone looks out for everyone else, and it appears a small enough for that to happen. Such towns are generally in decline and people feel they’ve been neglected but Normal is not in decline: it somehow has wealth (for reasons that will become apparent in the course of the narrative). Like Twin Peaks (David Lynch, TV series, 1990-91), Normal paints a picture of an idealised, small town America with dark secrets hidden beneath its surface.
Once the action starts (and restarts after order has been restored), Wheatley’s orchestration of the mayhem is masterful, never falling into the trap of falling in love with the action for its own sake because everything that happens is grounded in the characters and their motivations, sympathies and loyalties. Having said that, numerous eye-popping set pieces revolve largely around gun battles between one party or another. Much credit must go to Derek Kolstad’s screenplay, but Wheatley and his superb cast appear to be a perfect fit.
The film is apparently intended as the first entry in a franchise (like Kolsted’s John Wick and Nobody), which makes the title a little weird as by the end of the film, Interim Sheriff Ulysses and and his newly-promoted-Deputy Alex are taking a job in another small town. (The screenplay was originally called The Interim which, while less catchy and marketable, actually makes more sense.) Problematic sequel title notwithstanding, I, for one, would be happy to see these two characters return in further instalments if the filmmakers can make those instalments work as well as this first one, which is a treat.
Normal is out in cinemas in the UK on Friday, May 15th.
Trailer: