Few have it harder than women in crime cinema: the ill-fated moll, the grieving mother, or the wife who sees her life disintegrate as a result of a partner's greed, violence, and indiscretion. Kerry Ann Enright's feature debut, Nobody Wants to Shoot a Woman, takes a familiar violent aftermath scenario and shifts the focus to a woman who finds empowerment instead of tragedy in the disarray. Tina Benko (Flesh and Bone) stars as Mary, a tough but wounded wife and mother who is left empty-handed after her abusive bank robbing husband meets a bloody end thanks to his outsized gambling addiction. Mary makes an honest effort to enter the legitimate working world but faces discrimination due to her age and less savory affiliations. With her back against a wall of mounting bills and a son to provide for, Mary leverages those connections and joins up with her husband's heist crew only to discover her natural affinity for armed robbery.
While neither as hardboiled or bombastic as big budget crime thrillers, Woman exudes scrappy independence and is buoyed by a seasoned cast of East Coast performers. Benko's Mary plays the submissive wife early in the film though she still retains an steely reserve that foreshadows the badass that she evolves into. Once committed to criminal acts, Mary demonstrates quick witted resourcefulness that serves her and her comparatively buffoonish accomplices well. She begins to embrace the thrill of the heist as well as the alter ego, Machine Gun Mary, given to her by the local press. Her former powerlessness gives way to confidence bordering on swagger as she confronts a friend's scumbag ex-husband or navigates parent-teacher meetings with the same unsentimental efficiency as she exhibits holding up an art gallery. Benko; armored with a dark wig, oversized sunglasses, and a trench coat; possesses 90s action hero style but her performance has range and she's convincing in her vulnerable moments as well. Enright keeps her film focused on character and surrounds Benko with a ensemble of solid actors to work off of. Her playful scenes with Max Casella (Inside Llewyn Davis) as Eddie contrast his thrill and pleasure seeking against Mary's pragmatic approach to crime. Their repeated lavish dinners at a dimly lit French restaurant provide some quieter, more intimate moments though these rendezvous are inevitably revealed as a pretense to a new caper.
Narratively, Nobody Wants to Shoot a Women has some awkward moments and its feminist underpinnings are anything but subtle. However the film remains engaging via Benko's potent performance and the ultimately nuanced portrait of Mary. Additionally, Enright's genre bona fides are all well rendered—tense heist sequences, noir-ish Chiaroscuro lighting, and some excellent location work (shout out to Neir's Tavern). It's an authentic, stylish backdrop for this crew of charismatic performers resulting in a cool, earnest indie crime charmer.
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