| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
A |
|
|
| Direction: |
B+ |
|
|
| Visuals: |
A |
|
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A Dysfunctional Family Has To Function
by Bruce (movies profile)
Feb 16, 2008
6
of
6 people found this review helpful
What's It About?
It's the story of two siblings having to care for their aging father who has developed dementia. It's more about the relationships and the characters though.
What Did I like?
First of all, I thought the acting was really great. Philip Seymour Hoffman (John) is always good, isn't he? Laura Linney (Wendy) is almost always good ("Mystic River"=ouch). Philip Bosco (Lenny) was the best. He added a lot of suspense and tension to the movie--I was never sure what he was going to do next, including living or dying. Is he being overlooked in all the awards that are coming out?
I liked the way the movie alluded to some very interesting and important things without telling the whole story. The missing mother is mention once and not really explained. Abuse is a part of this story, but we don't get the details. Estrangement is not explained. I think this was good storytelling, not sloppiness. We know that something happened. It seems solid. But we can cut to the chase. There's not a lot of time wasted on exposition.
I also liked that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney seem like real people. He seems like a real professor--not just Tom Cruise with a pair of horn rims. She seems like a real temp/struggling writer. She's pretty the way a real human being is pretty, not like Julia Roberts or Natalie Portman.
Finally, I liked the way the established a sense of place. It really felt like Buffalo or Arizona.
What Did I Not Like So Much?
It dragged a little in the last half. I am not sure I like the little upbeat bones we get thrown at the end. I don't know if that rings so true. I know it's not my story, but I think it would have been better without the pretty little ribbons added on. (I don't want to be a spoiler and get more specific here)
To Sum It Up:
Interesting, emotional, intelligent, well-acted, serious-but-not-grim. A solid B+
Post Script:
I sure hope I didn't put in my usual stupid typo. I spelled "subtlety" wrong in my last review. I spelled it "subtly." Duh. If I did something like that again, I apologize. |
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