In 2020 I reviewed a film premiering on Amazon called The Vast of Night, a small southwestern town drama that felt part Twilight Zone, part Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Its debuting filmmaker was Andrew Patterson, and I started my review predicting that based on that movie he was destined to become a very big thing.

Now five years later he has delivered his second film The Rivals of Amziah King, premiering Monday at SXSW, and he is working with much bigger name actors like Matthew McConaughey and Kurt Russell in a larger-scale crime drama/beekeeping/musical/character study, but still keeping it rural and real. Structurally, The Rivals of Amziah King seems to be two or three movie ideas rolled into one (at one point he was planning it as a seven-part limited TV series), which relies on the audience to follow the unfolding saga wherever it wants to take us. A major character disappears halfway through the picture, another one is introduced, and yet another one has to carry us from one to the other. It is certainly ambitious, and through it all it is glued together with some terrific T Bone Burnett-produced bluegrass musical sequences with a band led by the titular character Amziah King (McConaughey) and buddies that make you wonder if one of these interludes the movie is going to take off in yet another direction.

Director-writer Patterson might have bitten off more than he can chew with all this, but there is no doubt he has created an original world and characters unique and interesting enough to attract the likes of McConaughey (returning to films after a six-year break in which he wrote a book and did voiceover and commercial work) and Russell.

When he is not getting down with his band, Amziah King is the charismatic head of the town’s premiere honey-producing operation, overseeing a ragtag group of associates (and musicians) in this unique business, but also having to fend off a criminal element of the honey industry in this part of the world (Alabama stands in for Oklahoma where Patterson lives and works). Crazy stuff happens. One pony-tailed friend gets too close to the machinery and has his hat and scalp consumed by it, to give you an idea of a single harrowing sequence that comes out of nowhere.

Eventually, Amaziah’s estranged Choctaw foster daughter Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) turns up out of nowhere and rekindles her relationship with him, a turn of events that gives him the idea to bring her into the family business with the idea of a leadership role. One haunting and memorable “not sure how they filmed this” scene has Amziah demonstrating his simpatico ways with the bees as hundreds of them convene on his arm, a relationship of trust if ever there was one, and a lovely detour in the film for McConaughey. It is a key moment that will also eventually pay off before the end credits roll.

Kateri becomes really the key force in the film as the tone shifts dramatically and the character played by Russell comes into focus. He is a highly successful businessman, and a shady one, who runs a rival operation that is threatening McConaughey’s. It is almost like a bee mafia. Revenge is the name of the game for Kateri, who is on to all this and looking for ways to strike back. This all dominates the back half of the film, which certainly raises the tension factor, if lacking the endearing oddball nature of the film’s first half.

For McConaughey, who has not led a movie since Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen in 2019, this role obviously proved irresistible, especially with the music angle, and he jumps into it back with the style we expect from the star. In a very accomplished and memorable film debut, Native American LookingGlass is asked to take on a lot of weight in order to make this all work and she delivers an honest and authentic portrayal. For his part, Russell isn’t going for embodying just another big-screen bad guy, but rather an intriguing and respected citizen on the surface here with a beloved dog and an incapacitated wife who will figure into Kateri’s plans.

The film is up for sale and will no doubt find a willing buyer with McConaughey and Russell in the cast as well as those dazzling bluegrass musical interludes, but it will need careful nurturing from whichever distributor gets it. It certainly continues to show what an original voice Patterson remains in making movies on his own terms — so far.

Producers are David Heyman, Teddy Schwarzman, Jeffrey Clifford, Michael Heimler, James Montague and Will Greenfield. Shout-out to the bee wranglers.

Title: The Rivals of Amziah King
Festival: SXSW (Narrative Spotlight)
Director: Andrew Patterson
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Angelina LookingGlass, Kurt Russell, Jake Horowitz, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, Owen Teague, Bruce Davis, Cole Sprouse
Sales agent: WME
Running time: 2 hr 10 mins