Disruption as an idea is at the heart of “The Rivals of Amziah King,” Andrew Patterson’s glorious follow-up to “The Vast of Night” that couldn’t be more different than the 1950s sci-fi drama. Patterson previously astonished with his use of long, complex single-take steadicam shots to enter a small town suddenly suspicious that they’ve heard signs of intelligent life in the universe over their humble radio signal, but lets fans of that film know that isn’t where he’s going with his second when almost instantly as soon as a camera pulls into the fast food joint that Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey) and a coterie of guitar players have set up to serenade, the film will randomly freeze up, a formal move that hasn’t been in vogue since the early seventies. Rather than bring the action to a halt, it only sets the mind racing at the possibilities when it’s clear Patterson, like the band on screen is only tuning up.
In introducing the premiere of “Amziah King” at SXSW, McConaughey said that what was sold him on starring in the film, his first in six years, was hearing of the projects that Patterson declined in order to pursue something that only he could make, giving the boisterous overture that opens it a touch more of a triumphant note when the wild swing upfront seems like what’s been desperately missing from the movies these past few years. The actor also had to be tickled pink at the possibility of starring as a string-plucking, crime-solving beekeeper, one of the best matches of a character and an actor in recent memory. Although Amziah would be liable to keep picking away at his guitar at the family-run steak-n-shake deep into the night if no one stopped him, he reluctantly puts it down when the local authorities ask for his help to identify a type of honey using an extractor back at his house when its owner is a person of interest.
After Amziah brings his band back to his place to investigate, it’s clear the music they make together is a far smoother operation that their work with the honey as they look like Keystone Cops let loose in an episode of “CSI,” fumbling the task at hand so bad it leads Amziah to cuss for the first time in years by his own estimation. There’s an entire police procedural series just waiting to be made inside of this opening sequence, which Patterson revisits when Amziah is later called out to a school dealing with a bee infestation, but the film is constantly shaking things up and pivots quickly to lead Amziah to reconnect with Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass), a young woman he once housed for a few years as she made her way through the foster system and now works at a waitress in a town nearby his own. With no kids of his own, if the knuckleheads he’s generally around don’t count, he looks to make up for lost time with Kateri, setting her up to be a part of the family business that she should’ve been a part of in the first place.
“Patience is better than being smart,” Amziah tells Kateri in one of the many bits of wisdom he passes on as he shows her his array of beehives and while Patterson assures that the film is constantly diverting, either with dips into Amziah’s detective work or impromptu musical interludes (having the likes of T. Bone Burnett and the Avett Brothers, among others, in the mix for the pungent bluegrass music throughout, coupled with a gregarious score from Erick Alexander and Jared Bulmer), it does take a while to come into focus. The tangents threaten to become more interesting than the central narrative, though that can be appreciated as a feature rather than a bug when Patterson evokes a place so rich in possibilities and storytelling tradition, with one of the film’s finest moments coming when Amziah shows Kateri around a church potluck and explains the family lore behind the recipes for every dish. It isn’t that seeing Kateri come into her own under Amziah’s wing isn’t as delicious, but it is the least unpredictable part of the film and involves McConaughey being off-screen for longer stretches as she learns to become self-reliant and protect the honey empire Amziah’s built, sidelining its most irresistible element.
However, “The Rivals of Amziah King” dazzles in its originality and would seem to prove Patterson right tenfold in taking the time to do something entirely on his own terms, refusing to imitate anyone else including repeating himself. For a movie about a beekeeper, there isn’t as much talk of honey as you’d think, but in breaking with convention, they don’t come any sweeter or more satisfying than this.
“The Rivals of Amziah King” does not yet have U.S. distribution.