‘Black Flies’ Review: Sean Penn And Tye Sheridan Ride The Mean Streets Of Brooklyn In Dark But Familiar Paramedic Drama – Cannes Film Festival
deadline.comBeware of black flies, they are the first to smell death. That is what rookie FDNY paramedic Ollie Cross is told by a colleague as he ventures into an abandoned apartment where a swarm is buzzing around a decaying dead body in a bathtub.
It is clearly a metaphor for the job of first responders like Ollie and his partner Gene Rutkowsky who are also the first to “smell death,” repeatedly, on a job that takes its toll not just on those in need of medical help, but also on those who provide it.
Premiering in competition Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, Black Flies stars Sean Penn as a grizzled veteran paramedic known as “Rut” now on the nighttime beat with rookie partner Cross, played with conviction by Tye Sheridan, as they answer the call in the largely rundown neighborhood of Brownsville in Brooklyn.
It is the classic Hollywood setup for this kind of drama: the older guy who has seen it all teamed with the newbie just trying to make it through rough nights on the mean streets of New York City, ground zero for those who find little or no hope in America’s broken health system.
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