Asphalt City (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Ollie Cross is a young paramedic assigned to the NYC night shift with an uncompromising and seasoned partner Gene Rutkovsky. Each 911 call is often dangerous and uncertain, putting their lives on the line every day to help others.

My Take – While doctors tend to get all the glory on the big screen, stories about first responders, specifically EMTs, are rarely told. Indeed, it is a dangerous job filled with life and death situations and the emotional strain is so bad that there is always a high level of paramedics committing suicide.

This latest from director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (A Prayer Before Dawn) tries to present the harsh reality of what it’s like to be an EMT in a big city like New York.

Based on the 2008 novel Black Flies by Shannon Burke, the film, written by Ryan King and Ben Mac Brown, released in a mostly quiet manner following a mixed reception at the 76th Cannes Film Festival (complete with a title change from Black Flies), does a good job of building an immersive setting with its depiction of New York City at night, with a feeling that anything can happen to and around the film’s main characters at any given moment.

However, despite that, its unrelenting ugliness makes for an overall hollow experience, as it loses itself by getting overly consumed in the dread and darkness, offering little of anything else, even when it is somewhat effective.

Structured in the form of ‘Training Day’ with paramedics, it’s a grim journey that doesn’t enjoy even the fleeting but flamboyant bombast of the feature it is trying to replicate, causing it to struggle to elevate itself beyond the torture of its unforgiving journey.

Though it seems to have all the right ingredients, from excellent visuals to strong performances, and gives out the feeling that a lot of paramedics in major cities may relate to, but it just can’t quite stick the landing, ultimately becoming more grating than impactful.

Sure, it will undoubtedly find an audience, particularly with those who enjoyed Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead (1999), but as someone who has never sat through the Nicolas Cage starrer, I found the experience both messy and frustrating.

The story follows Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan), a medical student who gets assigned a rotation working as a paramedic for the FDNY during the night shift in a rough part of New York City. Living in a rundown tenement in Chinatown to save enough money for medical school and to retake the MCAT exam, Ollie is immediately shocked by the brutality of the emergencies he has to face.

From drug addicts to homeless people, gangsters, and more, Ollie must endure the fact that not everyone is happy when the first responders arrive, nor can they always save the patient. Partnered with jaded veteran paramedic Gene “Rut” Rutkovsky (Sean Penn), the two night after night finds themselves falling into darkness, forcing Ollie to find outlets for his rage, gradually reaching a breaking point.

Here, director Sauvaire aims to give a realistic, unfiltered look at the life of paramedics in America’s hellhole inner cities. Scene after scene unfolds with new nihilistic horrors that take their toll on the main protagonists. From shoot-outs to dog attacks to overdoses and more, the film follows a city on edge and indeed has impeccable cinematography, helping make New York City’s dark corners places one would not want to get lost in.

However, as they have to attempt to save as many lives as possible, Ollie and Rut put themselves in harm’s way again and again. The film does a great job of presenting the nerve-wracking experiences the duo have every night and how they affect both characters deeply on a personal level. But the story is too thin to support them.

The bare bones plot leaves them stranded, until it calls on them to make choices that don’t serve well. The screenplay tries to keeps the elements realistic, yet, it cannot help but feel watered down when cliché moments like Ollie screaming but with no sound or the requisite mentor taking the fall sequence.

It doesn’t help that is a tough watch throughout. The handful of disturbing scenes in this film, which will be a challenge for any viewers sensitive to realistic depictions of dead bodies. Plus, the message at the center of the film lacks subtlety as it drives home that being a paramedic in New York City is a thankless job fraught with challenges. This is not a film that pulls any punches and would likely dissuade more people from pursuing a career in medicine than it should inspire.

Nevertheless, the actual strength of the film lies with its two leads – Tye Sheridan and Sean Penn, both of whom are also billed as producers, and seem willing to throw themselves into their roles. Penn is back in excellent form and gives a laser-focused and effectively brooding performance as a veteran paramedic who was one the first responders on the scene on 9/11 and has long since given up any grand illusions about being some kind of hero.

Sheridan is excellent here, and showcases what an underrated performer he is. These are the kinds of roles he should be taking, and while the film does not work, he cuts through the noise. It’s nice to see him overcome the limitations of the film and deliver an emotional turn with gravitas.

Katherine Waterston is memorable in a single-scene cameo as Rut’s ex-wife and the mother of his daughter. The same goes for Kali Reis, who is stunningly good as a heroin-addicted woman who gives birth while a needle is stuck in her arm. Michael Pitt is wasted in a character who is so over the top in his nastiness and cruelty that it makes you wonder how he still has a job.

In other roles, Raquel Nave, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Mike Tyson are serviceable. On the whole, ‘Asphalt City’ is relentlessly harrowing dramatic thriller which despite strong performances comes off as bleak and heavy-handed.