A low-key supernatural thriller in the vein of “The Prophecy” and “Stigmata,” “Stray” makes good use of the insider/outsider narrative trope in its unfolding of a unique, engaging tale. Combining far-east mysticism with a standard police procedural, director Joe Sill deftly keeps his characters and their development front-and-center, with the central conflict of the story used as a means to that end rather than the other way around. Light on its feet and bearing the advantage of some brisk pacing, “Stray” keeps its audience guessing, and by the end, mostly justifies the trust earned throughout each act.
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The story opens on police homicide detective Murphy (Christine Woods, recently giving a good turn in Sundance drama “Imaginary Order“), who is only hours back on the job following a leave of absence when she gets a call about a new crime scene. This isn’t an ordinary case, however, as the corpse appears to be scorched to the point of petrification despite no evidence of a fire. Identification near the body leads Murphy to the victim’s mother and daughter, and while the former isn’t that helpful, the latter seems as if she wants to be.
This daughter, Nori (Karen Fukuhara), works with Murphy to peel back the secretive layers surrounding her family, whose Japanese ancestry and connection to a strange psychic power appear to hold the key to the murder mystery. As the two develop a friendship, Nori helps Murphy heal from her own personal tragedy while the pair work to get to the bottom of the homicide. For both women, heartbreak in their immediate past is holding them back from growing and healing, and while the circumstances vary, the thematic connection shared between Nori and Murphy makes for an interesting narrative device.
The foundational elements of “Stray” are thus well established and give the back-half of the movie a great base from which to proceed. Unfortunately, a few shortcuts in the script deprive the story of taking full advantage of this benefit, telling instead of showing when it comes to the big reveal in the third act. The film halts in its tracks to just tell the audience what is at the center of the mystery, while also (somehow) remaining vague about the particulars of the magic at the center of all this.
In other words, the “why” of the picture is established, yet the “how” never is. It would be like learning that Darth Vader is Luke’s father without bothering to establish what The Force or The Empire is. There’s magic, or some kind of mysticism at the center of “Stray,” yet what it is and how it works remains a big question mark. This doesn’t ruin the film by any means, yet it does blue ball the audience a bit when the basics of the central mystery unfold.
Woods does outstanding work as the brooding cop with a tragic past, taking on a role that is normally reserved for male leads and making it very much her own. Indeed, there’s not a lot of hard-drinking, rough-living, anguish-obsessed (aka, the oft-copied Mel Gibson part in “Lethal Weapon”) female police officers in the cinema-scape, making this turn especially refreshing. For her part, Fukuhara, known to most as Katana from “Suicide Squad,” is given some interesting stuff to do in “Stray” and bounces well off of Woods.
Subtle camera and scene-staging work also add some garnish to the overall effort, hinting at a deliberate, careful eye behind the camera. A handgun set in-frame between Murphy and her estranged -ex (Ross Partridge) says more about the dynamics of the scene and the history between these two characters than ten pages of a script ever could, and is just one example of some very clever directing. “Stray” is the feature film debut of Sill, and if he can build on the positive aspects of what he’s done with this one, there’s a bright professional future ahead of him.
An interesting, original concept combined with solid acting and creative directing propel “Stray” and keep its audience invested throughout its tidy 81-minute run-time. Simple but effective special effects work hand-in-glove with the story to enhance (yet never subsume) the film, leaving the actors and the writing free to carry what is an effective supernatural thriller. Indeed, if one is vacillating on whether or not to see this one, they should stay for “Stray.” [B-]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cWhXPp4uzo
