Led by an excellent Billy Blair, Tonic is an engrossing story about a desperate man’s night from hell, as he journeys through the seedy underbelly of Deep Ellum in search for redemption.
The best film yet from Texas native Derek Presley (Boon), Tonic is a riveting character study of a self-destructive personality made to face the dire hopelessness of his existence, as years of wasted potential and debts to the wrong people conspire during a night of existential dread in a city where devils on every corner seek their pound of flesh.
Presley, in many ways, has delivered his own take on Dante’s Inferno, as his central character – a gifted yet down on his luck musician named Sebastian Poe - encounters the sins of his past as he descends further into his own personal hell. To make matters worse, Sebastian is given an ultimatum by a corrupt police officer (Jason Coviello) to commit a murder for him or face the consequence of death.
Playing the lead role of Sebastian is Billy Blair, a character actor and musician who delivers not only the best performance of his career, but one of the best performances of 2026. Blair’s portrayal of a seedy yet vulnerable jazz pianist whose talent far outweighs his ambition, evokes sympathy and frustration as we watch this never-ending funnel of booze and drugs stumble from one bad situation to the next.
A monologue in which Sebastian exclaims his despair at the world perfectly captures his fragility and petulance, as the years of cancelled gigs, insidious threats, and bad decisions take their toll. Supporting Blair are strong turns by Jason Coviello as a bad cop gone worse; Ammie Masterson as a high-end escort with a sympathetic ear; and Lori Petty as Sebastian’s loving sister dying from cancer.
Presley has created an unflinching Dallas set story in Tonic, where embedded within the lively music and arts scene of Deep Ellum a gallery of low-lives, hustlers, and killers, prey upon the hopeful and the desperate and turn their dreams turn into nightmares.
Tonic also delivers as an intoxicating crime drama that in style, tone, and performance evokes a time where character driven films led by unconventional character actors were the norm and not the exception. Exactly the antidote for our IP driven times.
