PARK CITY – There is one great moment in NB Mager’s “Run Amok.” A scene that is both horrifying and emotionally gut-wrenching on multiple levels. It’s a sequence that hints at what this 2026 Sundance World Premiere dramedy could have been. The fact that the rest of the film can’t sustain those heights isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Considering the subject matter, it’s arguably admirable.
Vaguely set sometime over the past thirty years or so (don’t expect to see a cell phone or a pop culture reference), “Run Amok” begins as Meg (Alyssa Marvin, very good) drags her harp (yes, a harp) to school on a cold winter morning. Her lacrosse-playing older cousin, Penny (Sophia Torres, solid), insists she can’t fit her instrument in her car (her reaction telegraphs her teenage embarrassment), leaving our heroine to make the long trek on her own. On her way, she accepts a ride from the kind Mr. Shelby (Partrick Wilson, elevating the film where he can), and the whole scenario teases the sort of coming-of-age indie dramedy you’ve seen countless times before. That is, until Mr. Shelby casually remarks how proud her mother would have been of her. For a brief moment, the tone shifts, and you realize something more serious may be at play.
Eventually, we learn that a decade prior, Meg’s mother, an art teacher, was the victim of a mass school shooting perpetrated by one of her students. Meg was just 4-years-old at the time, but her cousin still remembers. Raised by her aunt and uncle, Penny’s parents (Molly Ringwald, Vul Vaskquez), Meg has grown into an earnest, super smart, and endearing young woman. There isn’t a hint of the tragedy that has become so commonplace in America haunting her.
With the anniversary of the tragedy a few weeks away, Mr. Shelby greenlights Meg’s suggestion of an original musical performance for the planned memorial ceremony. Recruiting a cross-section of classmates to participate, Meg and the students begin a deep dive into what occurred years ago. An event that has led to shooting drills, teachers branding rubber bullet guns, and the PTA changing its name to the PTAA (Parents Teacher Action Alliance). Meg’s unbound curiosity eventually gets the best of her, and she does the unthinkable. She visits Nancy (Elizabeth Marvel, fantastic), the shooter’s mother, a troubled woman who has been mostly ostracized by her neighbors. The film momentarily takes a significant tonal shift and a suspension of disbelief that is likely more jarring than Mager hoped.
Objectively, Mager is attempting to thread a very tight needle. The narrative features elements of teenage levity, grounded sisterly bonding, quiet yet traumatic confrontations, and moments of surreal consequence that strain credibility. In one instance, Bill Camp commits as an industrial teacher whose obsession with stopping squirrels from pestering bird houses on the school’s campus turns disturbingly manic. These often disassociative threads would be challenging for any filmmaker to coalesce, let alone in their feature debut.
Mager is adapting her own short film and, considering she was able to recruit Wilson, Camp, and Marvel (no easy task), we can only guess that it must have read more concisely in screenplay form. For the most part, the trio appears to be in a slightly more serious, dramatic endeavor (especially Marvel), while Margaret Cho, who portrays the school principal, and the students are giving a conventional teenage coming-of-age flick. As the movie progresses, the dichotomy between the two begins to feel unnecessarily awkward.
Credit where credit’s due, however. Mager has a vision, and her ambition is admirable. Still, she may have needed more experience to pull off what is admittedly a very tough swing. But there is that scene. A scene where Meg leads her classmates through the school, reenacting the shooting moment by moment.
Peggy is portraying the shooter. Another classmate is Meg’s mom. The students take it seriously, but in the everyday context of just another dramatic exercise. All while in front of the daughter of one of the victims, who is seemingly as detached as the young actors she’s directing. You almost can’t believe it would play out like this in real life. Until it hits you, this is exactly how it would play out in real life. And as the film begins to unravel toward a muddled finale, it ruminates in the back of your mind. There was something special there. Mager’s point is made. And maybe in the long run, that moment is all that matters. [C]
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