The Benefactor – Review

We all have a friend who is overbearing, gloriously eccentric, and to be honest, a nightmare to be around. The sort that you can’t help but miss when they’re not there, but give it five minutes in their company and you regret any sense of longing. They’re always putting on some sort of show it seems, a facade whereby they’re the centre of attention, the loudest voice in the room – but who are they underneath? Surely they can’t remain so enthusiastic all the time? This is the intriguing notion that Andrew Renzi explores in his debut feature, The Benefactor.

That very person, in this instance, is Franny (Richard Gere), a philanthropist and current owner of a children’s hospital, who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his closest two friends. They died in a car accident that took place a number of years earlier – a car accident where he left the only survivor. With long hair and a scraggly beard, he sets a rather different first impression than the clean-cut, handsome man of a few years ago. Following the reintroduction of Olivia (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of his deceased friends, he decides it’s time to get his life back on track, and the first thing he reaches for are the scissors.

Olivia, who he nicknames Poodles, arrives with her husband Luke (Theo James). In a desperate bid to play a part in their lives, wanting to give something to the pair in a selfless manner while merely projecting his own insecurities and need to have a sense of purpose upon them, he gives Luke a job at the hospital he owns. The couple, expecting a child, are adamant to form their own path in life, but Franny makes that something of a challenge as he vies to assist them along the way, while harboring an addiction to morphine that threatens to tear him apart.

The Benefactor marks a promising debut for Renzi, as he presents this tale in a subtly unique way, ranging from the look and tone of the endeavor, to the music implemented. Though tedious in parts, there’s a sense of originality about proceedings, and that alone is enough to make this a commendable piece of cinema. However, the filmmaker ensures that while we get close to the protagonist – closer than anybody else appears to have been, anyway – he still remains an elusive figure, as we know as little about his life as those around him do. Though admiring this particular approach, it detracts from any emotional connection we had formed, and is detrimental to our investment in the project at hand.