How to Have an Impossible Conversation
The events in <em>Mass</em> are spurred by a school shooting, but the film’s true focus is the challenge of talking through grief.
For the first 40 minutes of its runtime, the film Mass refuses to reveal why its four protagonists—two sets of parents—have gathered in a small room in a church basement. They don’t appear to be friends; they’re polite toward one another, but cold. They’re not there to pray or to eat the food that’s been provided. Their conversation is stilted and awkward, descending into silence every few beats.
Finally Gail, played by Martha Plimpton, their situation. She squeezes
