THE STRONGEST MAN is a dry, dead-pan comedy about a Cuban man in Miami called Beef, played by Robert Lorie. Beef works in construction, but is known by friends and coworkers for being exceptionally strong. Beef is a good-sized man, but his natural strength goes far beyond the limits of any man I’ve ever met. Ultimately, this is a relatively insignificant fact about Beef, as his one love and passion in life is his gold-painted BMX bike, which he rides proudly like a child when not working construction or hanging art for a local rich white woman named Mrs. Rosen, played by Lisa Banes.
Beef’s best friend and coworker is the son of Korean immigrants and a seemingly talented yet underachieving man called Conan, played by Paul Chamberlain. The two spend most of their time together, often having peculiarly philosophical conversations in English, while Beef’s thoughts narrate the film in Spanish. At the request of friend Illi, played by Ashly Burch, Beef and Conan attend a yoga session on a whim and through the guidance of Guru Fred (played by Patrick Fugit) finds his spirit animal. As it turns out, his spirit animal proves to be problematic and after making the mistake of killing his spirit animal, Beef’s treasured BMX bike is stolen, sending him on a journey to find more than just a prized possession.
There are no big laugh-out loud moments in THE STRONGEST MAN, but the film is charmingly humorous in a subtle, introspective way that allows the viewer to empathize with this often quite man who seems simple-minded while conveying a sort of street wisdom and charisma combining the persona of Charles Bronson and Lennie from Of Mice and Men. This is an existentialist comedy that plays drier than the average British fare, but maintains a quirkiness developed by the characters, a testament to the curious writing and direction of Kenny Riches. THE STRONGEST MAN is Riches’ sophomore follow-up to MUST COME DOWN (2012) which boasts much of the same cast.
Robert Lorie is intriguing in the role of Beef, capable of filling out the slightly hulkish character through his physical type, posture and body language. Lorie also really captures the internal struggle of Beef, showing an avid understanding not just of the crucially well-written, oft off-beat dialogue, but nailing those crucial pauses and awkward even elongated silent moments that feed so much into developing Beef’s character. He’s a big guy, strong, but far from graceful, except when on his BMX. This is especially true near the end of the film when, upon reaching a breaking point, he cuts loose and dances freely, albeit terribly and at an inappropriate time.
THE STRONGEST MAN, at its core, is a story of finding what’s important to Beef. This is about Beef finding his true self and his true love. What begins as a search for his stolen bike becomes a search first for himself and then for the proverbial perfect girl. Riches shot the film with what feels like a docudrama influence, revealing Beef’s journey with on the fly, handheld cinematography that often feels spur of the moment. Doing this without feeling forced or contrived is not an easy task, but Riches manages to pull it off beautifully. While the toe and style are drastically different, consider films like THE WACKNESS (2008) or DONNIE DARKO (2001) as generally similar journey of self-discovery films and if you enjoyed those films, and are open the different styles and genres, be sure to give THE STRONGEST MAN a chance.
THE STRONGEST MAN opens in theaters on Friday, June 26th, 2015.
