Educational Media Reviews Online

This World Won’t Break is a beautifully shot but ultimately shallow fictional film about a struggling and directionless country musician, Wes Milligan (played competently by real life musician Greg Schroeder) who is unable to find success in the music industry. The movie opens at the beginning of a downward spiral that leaves him homeless, lonely, and disillusioned. Wes is supported by a small eccentric group of family and friends that regard his music and presence with cautious reverence. However, it's hard to understand why his friends and family are so loyal to Wes when he interacts with them in a distracted aloofness or uses them as an excuse to enable his worst impulses. Throughout the film, his circle of support elicits the many performances of original songs written by Wes. It is these performances that are the highlight of the film, but the songs alone cannot carry the lackluster storytelling that does little to support and motivate its characters.

The story is constructed mostly of “Behind the Music” clichés and moments of bad and sometimes baffling decision making by the protagonist. The function of his behavior only aides to inject more tropes and overwrought melodrama leaving the viewer wondering if the story really needs two and a half hours to unfold. The unwieldly length of the film becomes apparent early on in multiple scenes where minor characters, who are meant to offer comedic breaks in the film’s self-serious tone, ramble and stumble over punchlines that evaporate as quickly as they are uttered. The film could have easily trimmed its runtime by 45 minutes, and it is hard to shake nagging feeling that the film’s plot was crafted as production was ongoing. What’s left is a meandering and unlikable film that desperately wants its audiences to cry unearned tears for a character that is a one-dimensional facsimile of characters in much better films of its ilk.

It is also worth noting that much of the film’s story and setting takes place in a historic area of Dallas, Texas. The lush cinematography accentuates the patina of the buildings and streets but the absence of the people of color that mostly populate the area is troublesome. It’s an especially glaring omission when contextualized with Wes’ hero worship of black Blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson throughout the film. In one scene, Wes’ only interaction with a living black man is tinged with mysticism in a way that reinforces problematic tropes that plague black representation in media.

It’s hard to find an educational footing for this film other than as an example of beautiful cinematography.

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