A ‘Tonic’ That’s Fresh and Stimulating, But Hard to Swallow (Movie Review)

Tonic

Rating: 7/10

Written & Directed: Derek Presley

Style: Crime Drama

Time: 103 minutes

Review by Mike Szymanski

Character actor Richard Riehle plays a strange guy meeting up with lead actor Billy Blair

Initially, “Tonic” feels like a movie we’ve seen before: about a loser schlub who is down on his luck, owes a big debt, and faces deadly circumstances.

But “Tonic” takes some surprising twists and turns as we find that he isn’t that much of a loser and his debts are due to an altruistic cause — to get medicine for his sick and dying sister. And, in fact, he’s got talent.

So, like in “After Hours” (Martin Scorsese’s brilliant film of a guy stuck in Soho for a night), this noirish drama seems like a hopeless labyrinth of troubles for the people who walk through the doors of Club Tonic. And especially for a hapless piano player.

The whole world is crashing down like a meteorite, one patron says, while a hooker laments “I still think the world is beautiful.”