Mending The Line - Review 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

YOU can always rely on Brian Cox to deliver a strong performance, making his involvement in anything worth a watch. Past performances in productions as diverse as Manhunter, X2, Churchill, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Troy, The Carer and - perhaps most notably - Succession attest to that.

It was with Cox in mind that I approached Mending The Line, a sensitive drama tackling trauma and fly fishing. Cox once again delivers a fine performance in an engaging, little seen film.

Directed by Joshua Caldwell and written by Stephen Camelio, the film follows the lives of three people all affected by trauma. Predominantly, there’s Colter (Sinqua Walls), a veteran of Afghanistan, who blames himself for the loss of his colleagues after being ambushed on a patrol they didn’t have to take.

Self-medicating with alcohol, Colter lands in a veteran rehab facility in Montana, where his doctor, Burke (Patricia Heaton), recognises he is a mess and reluctant to talk in group therapy, so assigns him to Ike (Cox), a veteran of past conflicts, who periodically visits the facility, especially after he blacks out while fly fishing by himself.

Dr Burke views the possibility of them bonding as being mutually beneficial, while also keeping both safe.

Interacting with both is a third character, Lucy (Perry Mattfeld), a librarian who volunteers at the rehab facility, reading to the veterans, who is grieving the loss of her fiancée in an accident - and unable to move on.

The lives of all three become intertwined, offering possibilities for romance, paternal bonding and redemption. And they’re sensitively handled by Caldwell, who affords plenty of room for his cast to perform.

The fishing connection isn’t laid on too thick but certainly allows for a stunning backdrop to the film, while the story is also to be applauded for not delivering too neat of an ending - rather one that reflects on progress without shying away from ongoing uncertainty.

If there is a criticism, then just occasionally the film feels contrived in the way that various crises coming together at the same time, with Caldwell tending to lay things on a little too thickly.

But by then, you should be emotionally invested enough in the characters to keep going, with some nice gentle comedy - particularly stemming from Ike’s buddy (Wes Studi) - alleviating some of the heavier moments.

A photographic tribute (during the credits) to real-life veterans who have also benefited from fly fishing rehab also underlines the relevance (and timeliness) of the film’s central message: that trauma is complex and requiring of time and compassion to bring about any healing.

It means that while certainly operating within a familiar genre, Mending The Line still manages to emerge as a worthwhile experience in its own right.