Owen Teague

THE WHISPER MAN: an unsettling thriller with three creepy villains

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Photo caption: Robert De Niro, Adam Scott and Michelle Monagan in THE WHISPER MAN. Courtesy of Netflix.

The Whisper Man is even more disturbing than your average serial killer thriller because of three creepy villains with even creepier habits. Amanda (Michelle Monagan) is a police detective in a race against time to solve child abductions before they become child murders. Her suburban community in northern New Jersey experienced a spree of child killings a generation ago; these new crimes have exactly the same modus operandi, even though the original serial killer has been locked away for 25 years. She seeks the advice of Peter (Robert De Niro), the long-retired cop who caught the original killer, but he resists re-engaging. But then, Jake (Acston Luke Porto), the young son of Peter’s estranged son Tom (Adam Scott), is kidnapped, and Peter joins the manhunt.

The investigation takes Michelle and Peter behind bars to interview the original murderer Frank (Michael Keaton), who eagerly relishes the attention and who is just dripping with unhinged evil. Next, Michelle tracks down the wealthy weirdo Norman (Hamish Linklater), a fetishist proud of his transgressive collection. As they get closer to a solution, The Whisper Man becomes almost unbearably harrowing.

Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer adapted the screenplay from the Alex North novel. The writers have added some intriguing twists to a serial killer story – one about fingernails, another about collecting, and a third, horrific one involving cassette tapes.

As the good guys, often in conflict with each other, De Niro, Monagan and Scott all give strong performances. But it is the intense creepiness of villains played by Michael Keaton, Hamish Linklater and Owen Teague that makes The Whisper Man so unsettling.

Owen Teague in THE WHISPER MAN. Courtesy of Netflix.

I first noticed Owen Teague in the little indie family drama Montana Story, which I admired as one of the best movies of 2022. I wrote that Teague’s “quiet performance is exquisite. This is a melodrama, and the performance as Cal could easily have been overwrought. Instead, he perfectly captures this dutiful and seemingly passive man, with a hidden, festering guilt.” In The Whisper Man, Teague gets to go full-out maniac, and it makes the end of the movie even more gripping.

The Whisper Man is streaming on Netflix.

MONTANA STORY: a family secret simmers, then explodes

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Photo caption: Haley Lu Richardson (left) and Owen Teague (right) in
MONTANA STORY. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

A family secret simmers in Montana Story until it demands to be exploded. With exceptional performances by Owen Teague and Haley Lu Richardson, this is one of the best movies of 2022 so far.

22-year-old Cal (Owen Teague), a budding civil engineer, has returned to the Montana ranch of his childhood, where his comatose father is dying. Cal is saddled with arranging his father’s home health care and winding down his bankrupt affairs – grim, draining and thankless tasks. We eventually learn that the father, now helpless and unknowing, was domineering and cruel, a cynical mouthpiece for corporate polluters who masqueraded as a gentleman rancher.

Suddenly, Cal’s 25-year-old half sister Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) erupts onto the scene. Erin is a force of nature, bossy and clearly very, very angry. Erin unhelpfully begins second guessing Cal’s decisions, and unraveling one, without contributing to solving any of the issues.

Cal hasn’t even known where Erin has been for the past seven years, since she bolted from the ranch. Why is Cal deferring to Erin’s unreasonable behavior? Why is she so furious? The answers lie in a family secret that has not been resolved.

Haley Lu Richardson shines as Erin, whose unfiltered intensity, for better or for worse, commands every scene.

Owen Teague in MONTANA STORY. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

Richardson has the showiest role, but Owen Teague’s quiet performance is exquisite. This is a melodrama, and the performance as Cal could easily have been overwrought. Instead, he perfectly captures this dutiful and seemingly passive man, with a hidden, festering guilt. Teague has been amassing screen credits since age 13 and appeared in Bloodline; in Montana Story, he wrote and performed his character’s own musical theme.

Montana Story was written and directed by Scott McGeehee and David Siegel, the filmmakers who created What Maisie Knew and the superb Lake Tahoe thriller The Deep End with Tilda Swinton and Goran Visnjic.

McGeehee and Siegel’s cinematographer Giles Nuttgens shot both those films (along with Hell and High Water). Montana Story was shot around Livingston and Bozeman, and Nuttgens made the most of the Big Sky vistas to highlight the characters’ emotional isolation.

Montana Story played the SFFILM 2022, and opens in theaters this weekend.