Terrific Portrait of a Salesman’s Failed Effort to ‘Be a Man’

What does it mean to be a man in modern society? That’s the central question at hand in The Integrity of Joseph Chambers. From Gravitas Ventures is chilling, suspenseful, top-notch storytelling as we watch the titular character descend in a downward spiral, playing out at a purposefully slow pace. After all, who doesn’t love a good indie film with a potentially career-defining performance?

Joseph, or Joe, is played by Clayne Chambers, from a script by director Robert Machoian. The two of them found success in another project from a few years back, Neon’s The Killing of Two Lovers. Both films are terrific for reasons far beyond their clever titles. Here’s our take on their latest release, which is now in select theaters and available On Demand.

Depicting Every Father’s ‘Inner Fear’

Sure, we’ve been in a global pandemic for the past few years, but what if there truly were an apocalypse of sorts? And in effect, what would we do for food, if our go-to resources were no longer so readily available? Would we have to hunt for food? Those are the questions that swirl in the head of Joseph Chambers, an insurance salesman and family man who wants to acquire said skills to be able to take care of his family in the case of such a catastrophe.

We first see Joe as he’s muttering, “Hey little lady, hell’s for dinner” — to himself, into the bathroom mirror as he grooms his mustache. We come to find out that he’s trying to get into a “character” of sorts: A tough-guy hunter. He wants to look the part as he decides to go deer hunting by himself — for the first time ever — despite objections from his beautiful wife (Jordana Brewster from Who Invited Charlie? and the Fast & Furious franchise).

“We grew up being told, ‘This is what’s a man,’ star Chambers recently told MovieWeb. “And now, we’re learning that it’s a little different, and the pendulum continues to swing. So we’re just trying to find that happy medium. I think [my character] Joe is in that place. And we find him in a city that morning, where he’s planned this trip for quite some time. He’s bought these clothes, he’s got his hunting outfit… he has a plan. And he’s tired of being told ‘no.'”

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Setting out into the mountains with a borrowed rifle, Joe roams the woods aimlessly in his search for deer. His boredom is short-lived, however, when in the blink of an eye, Joe undergoes a traumatic experience. What starts as an experiment to prove himself as a capable father and husband turns into a nightmare as Joe finds himself faced with a terrible choice that he must make. It’s always refreshing as a moviegoer when you’re halfway through a film and realize that your prediction as to where the plot is going is 100% incorrect. I won’t give away what happens, but it’s a terrifying twist of fate for Chambers, one that will further put his “integrity” to the test.

A film’s musical score often plays a reliably integral role in the end result for audiences, and this film is no exception. Similar to The Killing of Two Lovers, the haunting compositions that sound out during Joe’s most contemplative moments heighten the overall film to uniquely impressive levels. Plus, there are a handful of long takes throughout The Integrity of Joseph Chambers that would certainly make auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson proud. And speaking of cinematography, it made sense when Crawford recently informed me how director Robert Machoian is also a photography professor. The aspect ratio of this film is uniquely not-so-widescreen, and the visual compositions of Machoian’s actors within each frame are impressively striking. And don’t let the film’s open-ended conclusion frustrate you — it seems Machoian cut it this way on purpose, and we’re left pondering Joe’s future, as well as our own.

More About the Director and the Star

Gravitas Ventures

And on the topic of Machoian, he was born in the small town of King City, California, and has been taking photographs his whole life. And now, he’s been making films for over a decade. In his career, he has had his films premiere at the Sundance, South by Southwest, LA Film Festival, and Tribeca. In 2019, his fourth short film won the Jury Prize for Directing at Sundance. Robert Machoian’s work comes from the intimate experiences of his life and the lives around him.

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“In the early part of my marriage, I lived in Sacramento, California. As a result of the energy crisis of 2001, California started to experience blackouts and brownouts,” said Machoian in a statement. “My wife, Rebecca, and I had just purchased a starter home. Our first child, Harper, at the time was only a little longer than my forearm, her head often resting in the palm of my hand while she slept. The looting in downtown Sacramento during that time was my first experience with the inner fear of a father wanting to protect his family. I talked to Rebecca about getting some guns to protect ourselves. I painted pictures of scenarios that might occur that would require us to survive on our own, the world having been flipped into utter chaos. Rebecca had no interest, no matter how extreme the picture. She was living in the now, and now wasn’t any of the pictures I was trying to paint. Life moved on, more children came; we moved around the country. Yet the fear of the world ending has never really left the collective discussion of media, or cinema, nor has my own fear of needing to provide for my children in such events.”

Meanwhile, the star of the film, Clayne Chambers, has also been in the filmmaking game for some time. The Alabama native’s career spans two decades, oscillating between film and television. Besides his star-making turn in The Killing of Two Lovers, Crawford is known for portraying the role of Martin Riggs on the Fox action comedy-drama series Lethal Weapon (2016–2018). He also co-starred in the Sundance Channel’s first drama Rectify (2013–2016), for which he was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Television Award. Crawford had supporting roles in the films A Walk to Remember (2002), Swimfan (2002), and The Great Raid (2005).

We can’t wait to see what Crawford — and Machoian, for that matter — churn out next. In the meantime, The Integrity of Joseph Chambers is a can’t-miss.

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