An admirable ensemble gathers to re-enact the chaos that took place in the wake of those fateful gunshots in Dallas, Texas, and Parkland’s unusual in that it deals with the lesser-known people connected to the event rather than those at the top of the chain of command. Evoking the feel of a docudrama, with Paul Greengrass-style handheld camera work and contemporary news footage spliced in at key moments, Landesman provides a brisk and detailed account of who did what and when. As an evocation of the 1960s, Parkland‘s quite effective, even if it feels more like an expensive made-for-TV film rather than a piece of cinema. All too often, however, Parkland wavers between glumly solemn melodrama and a slightly hysterical, even crass stare at the incident’s gorier details – the extended scenes of blood-spattered surgeons and government operatives weeping over their fallen president are more grimly histrionic than emotional or informative. There’s also a scene where a character says, “I’m sorry – there are no pall bearers” in such a thick Texan accent that it sounds more like “I’m sorry – there are no polar bears” which deflates the solemn air somewhat. In among all this, James Badge Dale’s low-key turn as Robert Oswald – the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald – is all the more affecting. As he watches the events unfold on television, and it dawns on him that he’s directly related to the hated figure at the centre of it all, the sense of betrayal, guilt and outright fear is perfectly, subtly conveyed through his controlled performance. Really sparking into life in some scenes yet sputtering awkwardly in others, Parkland is a more compact, less speculative film than Oliver Stone’s JFK – refusing as it does to address the conspiracy theories surrounding the case – but it also lacks that film’s compulsive, febrile power. Undeniably made with the best intentions, and quite informative in its exploration of the government’s actions in the wake of a national tragedy – such as the desperate rush to get Zapruder’s eyewitness footage developed – Parkland sadly fails to cohere as an entirely satisfying drama. Parkland is out in UK cinemas on the 22nd November. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.