'The Lost Bus' Review: Horror and Heroics are Balanced in an All Too Timely True Story [TIFF 25]
PAUL GREENGRASS HELMS A TRUE STORY BASED ON A NOVEL FOLLOWING THE STRING OF WILDFIRES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IN 2018. THE FILM PACKS A PUNCH AND WILL HAVE YOU GRIPPING THE ENDS OF YOUR ARMCHAIR AS YOU WATCH IN AWE AT THE INTENSITY OF THE SITUATION AND HEROICS OF A FEW.
There is almost no pairing in modern cinema that is more likely than that of a real life everyday hero thwarted into an unthinkable situation and Paul Greengrass behind the camera directing it. ‘The Lost Bus’ sees legendary British filmmaker Greengrass return to the directors chair alongside a cast of Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, and more. The film is based on the novel Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson, which follows the real life tale of a school bus driver and a teacher who are trapped in a wildfire with a bus full of school children.
While this story follows the 2018 Northern California Camp Fire, the prevalence and recency of what seems to be an evermore common occurrence of mass wildfires in California makes the timely release of this project all the more topical.
Initially this film takes a slight tumble over some sappy tropes that were initially a cause for concern. Local school bus driver Kevin McKay (McConaughey) is seen in a string of bad experiences on a very bad day. He is in need of money to pay for his mom’s medical bills, and is shut down by his supervisor when seeking out extra hours at work. He goes home and is yelled at by his teenage dirtbag son who is skipping school, and on top of this he receives an unfortunate call from the vet about his dog's health. It is catnip for feel bad character building, and it just makes for an awkward, pleading set up. The “show, don’t tell” motto went out the window there, alas. It doesn’t take long however for this film to pick up and thwart us into all the terror and heroics that follow.
McKay, having recently returned to his childhood town with his son to care for his aging mom (both played by McConaughey’s real-life son and mother), is new to the school bus driver business. After a slew of personal life issues get in the way of work, Kevin finds himself on thin ice with his supervisor who has given up a warning or two not to mess things up. Meanwhile, on the other side of town a fire has broken out due to a failing powerline in the middle of a forest north of some key population centres.
From the jump once these fires break out we are put in a place of terror. There is a lot going on visually at times, but the film never fails to make these fires truly feel larger than life with a strong sound design that encapsulates the world and space around these characters. It sounds amazing in a movie theatre, and while this is an AppleTV+ film, it cannot be understated just how important that element is to the viewing experience. That being said, movies have to work on their own, and there is a lot to admire with this one, especially when we are stuck in the thick of it.
From a visual standpoint, there is a lot to like here, but also a lot to be wary of. There is a unique amount of drone work being done in this, and the visuals are often pretty overwhelming. The mixture of heavy VFX work, shaky cam, and drone footage all can come together in a way that is a little distracting. In scenes where the focus is more close up and tight, the visuals work a lot better. The close quarters dangers of the fire with sets that surround our characters that are up in flames all look and feel so dangerous and pressing. The looming threat can always be felt, and in these intense sequences you can really feel the danger, this is much thanks to some sharp editing which compliments the film in every way.
One thing Greengrass does exceptionally well in his films is capturing the intensity of the moment from multiple perspectives, oftentimes all interwoven. The film is at its best when there is this healthy pacing and interplay which bounces back and forth continuously. Yul Vazquez plays the local Fire Chief who we follow throughout the film. The moments where he is gameplanning in real time a response to these fires is where this film was at its most thrilling. There is something about the realistic approach to the shots, editing, and framing of these scenes that seeps through the screen onto the viewer that really adds to the whole scope of the disaster. There is a line late in the film where the Fire Chief speaks to reporters, and he fires off something along the lines of: “the fires get worse and worse every year, and we’re damn fools.” This spoke to a deeper gut punch that the film sends you away with, that despite the great stories of dramatic heroics that can be seen in disaster time, there are probably just as many, if not more, stories of devastation and loss that can be told.
The standout performance and this film’s anchor is America Ferrera, who plays school teacher Mary Ludwig who is stuck with the students on the bus throughout this journey. This is a role she is well suited for, and her balanced natural yet movie-star cadence comes across with a real sense of urgency and care as she tries to do what is best for these children in a time of grave danger.
At the World Premiere Jamie Lee Curtis, the film's producer, revealed that after hearing about this particular story and reading the book that she knew this was something she had to help get made. Her and her Halloween producer Jason Blum teamed up to get this done and Curtis mentioned that it was meant to be as both the real life characters Mary Ludwig (Ferrera) and Kevin McKay (McConaughey), funny enough, had unique ties to Curtis. The real life Mary Ludwig’s father dated Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother over fifty years ago, and the real life Kevin McKay is a big fan of Curtis’ Halloween. He recalled going to see the 2018 reboot film just a few weeks before these devastating fires hit.
Paul Greengrass’s ‘The Lost Bus’ will land on AppleTV+ in just a few short weeks, following a limited theatrical run to qualify for awards season. The film works as a super effective thriller with a true story that continues to become ever more prevalent today. McConaughey is solid while America Ferrera shines in this a story which will inspire just as much as it will stress out its viewers over the course of the thrilling two hour runtime.