Film Review: LORELEI (2020): Jena Malone and Pablo Schreiber Are Terrific in a Moving Romantic Drama

Lorelei Review

Lorelei (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Sabrina Doyle, and starring Pablo Schreiber, Jena Malone, Ryan Findley, Trish Egan, Jerry Bell Jr., Chancellor Perry, Parker Pascoe-Sheppard, Amelia Borgerding, Lynn Sher, Rowan Ryan, and Karen Rasor.

Director Sabrina Doyle’s deep working-class drama, Lorelei, features an intriguing story line which is made all the more compelling thanks to the lead performances of its stars, Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone, both of whom have never been better than in their work in this film. Doyle’s film features fantastic performances all around and is extremely well crafted right from the opening scenes.

Set in Oregon, Schreiber stars as Wayland, a man who has just gotten out of prison for armed robbery. He goes to live in a halfway house run by Pastor Gail (a well-cast Trish Egan) who gives him some rules to abide by and, most importantly, reminds him to keep himself out of jail. He re-discovers his high school sweetheart Dolores (Jena Malone) at a single mom’s meeting conducted at a local church. She now has three children and works part-time as a maid at a local motel. Wayland re-connects with her and the two begin a passionate relationship that will lead to overcoming many difficult obstacles in their lives.

Dolores once had big dreams but has settled for a much smaller life. She is a good mother even though she gets frustrated sometimes such as in a scene where she can’t afford to take her kids out to celebrate one of their birthdays unless she finds some gift cards that have been misplaced in their home. As Dolores and Wayland re-discover their love for one another, there are financial barriers to their happiness which they must overcome. Wayland finds employment and tries to make ends meet but, eventually, turns to selling drugs for extra income which soon threatens his job.

When Dolores is forced to do something no one should have to do at her job, she ends up quitting and the plot thickens as both she and Wayland try to make sense of their relationship and decide if it’s worth all the sacrifices necessary to sustain it. The realistic scenes of this couple trying to keep their relationship afloat are portrayed extraordinarily well with so much attention to detail that the story is always believable. We truly feel for these characters and want to see them catch a break.

The film handles the characters of Dolores’ children in a truly moving way. Wayland bonds with the three kids and finds himself doing the best he can to try to see them as his own at certain times even though he knows they are not. Chancellor Perry as Dolores’ son, Dodger, has some great moments in the film especially towards the end of the movie as Wayland is about to give up on trying to make things work. There’s a deeply moving scene with Schreiber and Perry that is truly well done. As Dolores’ daughter Periwinkle, Amelia Borgerding shines as her character is going through physical changes and worries about getting pregnant herself even though she’s not sure how to. Finally, Parker Pascoe-Sheppard is perfect as the third child, Denim, who Wayland initially takes with him on a drug deal but ends up feeling guilty and thus leaves Denim with an almost total stranger. When Wayland can’t find Demin afterwards, it makes for a truly compelling scene.

Lorelei is a legendary German siren, a maiden with a mermaid’s tale who lived on a rock on the river waiting for her lover. The film is named after this maiden and there is some symbolism towards the end that justifies why the film is named as such. The ending doesn’t wrap everything up with a bow but is satisfactory and creates some interesting possibilities of what will happen after the film’s conclusion.

Malone and Schreiber are two masters in the art of acting and under Sabrina Doyle’s accomplished direction, Lorelei is a film that hits close to home with its powerful themes of just how close some people are to losing everything they have, including the people they love. It’s a hard-hitting movie and one of the best films that has been released so far this year.

Rating: 9/10

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