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The Expat Review
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Lev Gorn– Nick
Mon Confiado– Detective Cruz
Lovely Abella– Delilah
Leo Martinez– Mindoro Police Chief
Lara Morena– Angela
Billy Ray Gallion– Well Dressed Man
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Gregory Segal
Screenplay by Gregory Segal
Distributed by Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures and Freestyle Digital Media
Not Rated
Runtime– 96 minutes
Official Facebook page
Now available across all major Video on Demand platforms in North America.
The Expat, written and directed by Gregory Segal and now available across all major Video on Demand platforms in North America, is a quiet little thriller about a retired Marine with shell shock who goes to the Philippines on a sort of vacation and ends up the target of a police investigation into a series of brutal murders. However, instead of focusing on the investigation into the murders, the movie spends most of its time with the retired Marine, who tries to relax and find love. It’s a fascinating storytelling strategy until the very end, when the thriller plot threads don’t quite gel the way they need to. It almost seems like the movie didn’t even need the murder mystery/thriller part. The retired Marine’s search for a fulfilling life is ultimately the best part of the movie.
The Expat stars Lev Gorn as Nick, a retired Marine who travels to the Philippines for a sort of vacation. We see him check in to a hotel, have dinner, get a new sim card for his phone, sign up for a local online dating service, and then go out on several dates with local young women. We’re never quite sure if these dates with local women are actually dates with prostitutes (we see Nick give one woman money but it isn’t made clear that he’s paying for services rendered. It’s almost like he’s just giving her money to give her money). We see Nick do this over and over again. And then, one day, the police find a dead woman who, after some preliminary investigation, went on a date with Nick. Then another dead woman pops up who knew Nick. The local cop in charge of the investigation, Detective Cruz (Mon Confiado), quickly zeroes in on the possibility that Nick is a murderer and arrests him.
And so Cruz and some of his underlings question Nick about what he knows about the dead women. After engaging in some police brutality (Nick is beaten while being questioned), Nick is told not to leave the city until the investigation is complete. Nick, distraught that anyone would think that he’s killing women (or anyone, really) goes to the U.S. embassy for help and advice. Nick is told that he has to stay in the Philippines and do what the police say. So then some stuff happens, Cruz receives a forensics report that Nick didn’t kill the women, and then Nick leaves the city. Nick doesn’t leave the Philippines, though. Nick just goes to another city in the Philippines.
So three months go by, Nick settles in in a new city and a new hotel (or maybe it’s an apartment. It seems more like an apartment), and his vacation seems to be back on track. Nick loves the Philippines, and it almost seems like he’s trying to establish roots. It’s at this point that he strikes up a friendship with Delilah (Lovely Abella), a young single mother who lives in the same general area as he does. Nick and Delilah’s interaction is different from the other interactions Nick’s had with local women. It almost seems like he’s fallen in love. Delilah likes Nick, too, although her comfort level with him is slower than his with her.
And so, while all of that is going on, we find out that Cruz is still on the case of the dead women, there are more dead women, and that he still thinks Nick is involved somehow. But how? What the heck is going on here?
There are moments where you’re not quite sure where The Expat is going. There are moments early on where it seems possible that Nick might be the killer. Are Nick’s bouts of shell shock/PTSD some sort of mental mask for when he goes out to kill women? Are those moments where Nick sees a man in a hooded sweatshirt on the streets some sort of projection of his own guilt? And then the movie stops doing that and it focusses on Nick’s growing relationship with Delilah. And then you start to wonder if “finding love” has frozen Nick’s murderous impulses. But then is Nick the killer?
The Expat is pretty evenly paced throughout its 96 minute running time. The only time the pace ramps up is when the police investigation ends and we find out who the real killer is and what’s really going on. That sudden quickened pace is exciting but I’m not sure that the big reveal in regards to what is going on is all that clear or satisfying. There are quick moments throughout the movie where we see a mysterious bald man talking on the phone, and there’s a guy, played by Billy Ray Gallion and identified in the credits as “Well Dressed Man,” interacts with Nick but we’re never quite sure what any of that is about. And when we find out what the bald man and the Well Dressed Man are actually doing, it just doesn’t hit as that big of a revelation. It also seems way too complicated for its own good. It could be that this big revelation hits bigger with viewers in the Philippines/people who are familiar with day-to-day life in the Philippines.
This pacing also hinders the police investigation aspect of the story because it just doesn’t give Detective Cruz enough to do. He’s just sort of in the movie, we see him every now and then, and then his story ends when the investigation ends and the audience finds out what’s really going on. There’s an interesting wrinkle that the movie doesn’t explore in detail with Detective Cruz, where we see him with his wife and talking about his job. Cruz’s wife is upset that her husband isn’t more upset by the multiple dead women in the city. Why isn’t he going after Nick? Why isn’t he doing everything and anything to find the killer? And Cruz then sort of explains in even keel fashion that he can’t get upset, that he has to stay professional, and that he doesn’t want to bring his work home with him. Cruz doesn’t want his family to see what he deals with every day. It makes you wonder if Cruz suffers from his own form of shell shock/PTSD. I would have liked to have seen more about this.
The best part of the movie and the most entertaining/satisfying is Nick and Delilah growing their relationship. Lev Gorn and Lovely Abella have tremendous chemistry and you sense that they really are falling in love. You can’t wait to see what they’ll do together next. The ending is a bit of letdown, but at the same time it seems truthful to Nick’s and Delilah’s relationship. The final scene makes you wonder what happens after the credits begin. It will be interesting to see what fans of the movies think happens.
The general look of the movie is surprising. Director Segal and cinematographer John Sawyer don’t try to make the Philippines seem exotic or dangerous but they also don’t engage in what you could call a “chamber of commerce” depiction of the country. It’s just another place on Earth that has its peaceful aspects, its not very peaceful aspects, and there are scores of people living their lives there.
Lev Gorn is fantastic as Nick. You get a real sense from the way he carries himself throughout most of the movie that Nick just wants to relax and live a peaceful life. He’s been through some bad stuff in his life (the shell shock/PTSD is from his war time service in the Marines) and he just wants to get away from all of that. He experienced the Philippines at some point when he was in the Marines and he decided to go on an extended vacation there when the opportunity came up. And now that he’s there it isn’t working out exactly like he thought it would. He’s still trying to persevere, though. His search for love and companionship and the fact that he spends an extended period of time in the Philippines makes you wonder what his “regular” life was like in America and if he will ever go back to it. With the way the movie ends I’d suspect that he won’t, but who knows? Maybe that’s what a The Expat 2 will be all about. Gorn is great, though, in this movie. I do wonder, though, and maybe it’s just the way I’m looking at, but does Gorn have a tattoo of Adam Driver’s head on his arm? That tattoo really, really, really looks like Adam Driver.
Lovely Abella is terrific as Delilah, Nick’s great love. She doesn’t want anything to do with the American visitor at first because she has a son and doesn’t want to get involved with someone who is under police investigation. As the story progresses, though, Delilah starts to like the idea of being involved with Nick. Their back and forth in intimate settings is a joy to watch, and you can see that Abella and Gorn have real deal chemistry. Abella also does a great job handling the ending. You really feel for her, even after finding out what’s really going on. Awesome stuff.
Mon Confiado does a decent job as Detective Cruz. When you first see Cruz interacting with Nick you’re concerned that Cruz may be a bad guy. I don’t mean that in a villain sense but in a “you can’t trust this guy at all” sense. Cruz doesn’t seem to care about the truth or finding out if Nick is actually killing women. It seems like he decided that Nick did it, evidence be damned, and he’s going to figure out how to make the murders stick to him. But then as the movie goes on and you see Cruz interacting with his wife you see that Cruz is troubled and just trying to hold himself together. Confiado plays it cool throughout, which is kind of eerie at the beginning, but then it all fits in with his whole “Cruz needs to stay in control and keep the bad stuff away from his home life as much possible” thing. A fascinating performance to be sure.
And then there’s Leo Martinez as the police chief. I was not expecting the police chief character (and that’s what he’s called in the credits. He doesn’t have an actual name) to act as the movie’s comic relief. The chief has a few “serious” moments as he tries to understand the case that Cruz is building, but once all of that is done Martinez’s chief has to deal with beat cops and other members of his department who annoy him. And, man, do they annoy him. The chief’s profane outbursts are a thing of beauty, and I would so be down for a movie that’s all about him, his cops, and the crazy stuff they end up engaging in day in and day out. The movie world needs more profane outbursts from Martinez’s police chief. The world needs more laughter. Martinez also clearly knows how to fix a shoe with super glue. You’ll see him do it.
The Expat is a good movie. It’s best to go into it not expecting an edge of your seat thriller because it’s not that kind of movie. It has thriller elements in it, but it’s really more about a guy trying to deal with his problems and find love. That’s the best part about it.
See The Expat. See it, see it, see it.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: At least 6.
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: Yes.
Doobage:Two dueling quotes about the Philippines, a guy walking down an alley, street vendor hooey, hotel room hooey, new sim card hooey, dinner eating, beer drinking in public, off screen sex, a guy with deformed legs begging for food or money, multiple street beggars, massage appointment, sex, a murder scene with cops everywhere, an awkward meeting, more sex, multiple dead bodies, phone hooey, serious police interrogation with a dose of police brutality, phone book to the gut, U.S. embassy hooey, a forensic report, slow booze drinking, glass crushing by hand, a bald guy in a hot tub with two women, more dead bodies, a figure dressed in black, scuba diving, a fisherman finds a dead body, a chicken, shoe repair, shower sex, a woman slashed to death with a box cutter, a goofy jump scare, a home cooked dinner, a video call, more pics of dead bodies, a police room search, clothesline hooey, biting ants, a weird footprint, some bullshit about duplicate sim cards, a disguise, more beer drinking, accidental head banging, more off screen sex, and an appropriate ending that’s still kind of annoying.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: Two dueling quotes about the Philippines, the Philippines, a potential trans hooker, police brutality, a pic of President Donald Trump on the wall in the U.S. embassy, “direct evidence,” a shell shock/PTSD sound flashback, threatened throat slitting with a shard of glass, flip flops, fishing boats, potential open bribing of the police, jogging, sisters giving shit to one another, shoe repair with super glue and super glue sniffing, “everything is cheap in the Philippines,” a home cooked meal, a discussion of what a trampoline is, making dinner on the beach, a cannibal joke, coffee, biting ants, talk of Eurasian kids, and an appropriate ending that’s still kind of annoying.
Best lines: “Can we have breakfast today? Because I don’t have to work,” “You want donut?,” “This seat taken, hot shot?,” “What is your business here in the Philippines?,” “I would like to call my embassy, please,” “You’re not in the U.S.A. So just forget all about your rights,” “So, how’s Manila?,” “Hey, kiddo,” “Things aren’t as good as you think they are,” “Fucking morons,” “Angela, this is my job,” “Nick? You know my name? I’m flattered,” “Was it something I said?,” “Cruz, if you’re not here to arrest me get out,” “Okay, Mickey Mantle,” “What’s banana ketchup?,” “That’s an ear?,” “What do you think your work is here, making coffee?,” “Are you an idiot? I’m asking you to go and get the report! Leave the coffee, now that you brought it, idiot. For goodness sake!,” “Oh my God, I can kill a man here, forgive me, Lord. Fucking shit. Fuck,” “You animal!,” “You’re very honest for a con man,” and “I’ll never see you again.”
