Recently viewed films

[Jack of All Parades]

"Obvious Child" last evening with Lisa. A first feature by a new director Gillian Robespierre[love that name]. The subject is abortion but it is really about the need to grow up, to break free of arrested development. Its screenplay is never glib or flippant and it is uniquely attuned to the ebb and flow of conversation amongst friends and acquaintances and it is packed with unexpected surprises. The young woman in the movie, Donna Stern, as played by Jenny Slater, is an aspiring comedienne working a low end comedy club in Williamsburg. She is fearless on the stage; not so much in her real life. She has moments when her humor is ferociously funny as she picks at the events in her life but then she has to deal with reality and that is not so easy for her. She is enabled by caring parents-Richard Kind and Polly Draper; she has a strong, supportive roommate-played by Gaby Hoffman. She also has a budding relationship with a 'real' young man, Max, as played by Jake Lang, who is a solid foil for her.

I really enjoyed this film- it is still bubbling within my head. It is romantic in its anti-romanticism- that is quite hard to pull off.

http://youtu.be/r2GN3wdfqbA

[Jack of All Parades]

"Fading Gigolo", written and directed by John Turturro, the other evening with Lisa Cohn Sjoholm. Tuturro's Fioravante is a sad character with his mild mannered demeanor, his sensitivity, his flower arranging skills and his ability to romance women with engaging and intuitive conversation. His friend, Murray, played by Woody Allen, floats the suggestion that he use his talents to make some extra cash which the two can share by engaging with 'clients' Murray would solicit.- in effect a whore/pimp proposition. Out of this seemingly garish, crude and farcical proposition comes a most engaging comedy which features the best performance I have seen from Woody Allen on screen in too many years. The sight of him leading four young african/american children on an expedition in Williamsburg for expert head lice removal is exquisite. Also staring Sharon Stone, Sofia Verara, Vannesa Paradis and Liev Schreiber as an Hassidic community patrol officer, this movie just makes one frequently laugh. I could not ask for more. The cinematography by Marco Portecorvo is delicate as it hovers on the actor's faces and the score which features some great playing by the tenor, Gene Ammons is apropos of the movie's moods.This movie was a gracious surprise.

http://youtu.be/DuKoub-Sy9k

[Jack of All Parades]

"Chef", last night, written and directed by John Favreau. Nothing spectacular but if you like food it is intoxicating in its visual celebration of the selection, preparation, service and consumption of all things edible. As a story it is plain vanilla and most predictable in its plot lines- it is sappy and sentimental. The one thing I did like is that it celebrated work and the satisfaction one can obtain from doing something well and with passion. When the Favreau character, Carl Caspar, makes over his food truck, it is an honest experience and the viewer comes away with a true sense of the labor involved in food preparation.

With a name cast and their cameos- Robert Downey, Jr, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlet Johannson, Sophia Vergara, Bobby Carnavalle and John Leguizamo, who almost steals the movie, the time passes pleasantly enough, even when the movie deteriorates in the second half into a food travelogue with enjoyable stops in Miami, Frenchman Street in New Orleans and fresh beignets at Cafe Du Monde -where they did not have to wait in a ridiculously long line and Franklin Barbecue in Austin, TX. The accompanying soundtrack is equally enjoyable with its preponderance of R&B and Cuban beats.

http://youtu.be/wgFws3AoIUY

[Jack of All Parades]

"Begin Again" by Jim Carney last night with Lisa. A movie that was better than I anticipated but in the end less than the sum of its parts. Carney makes a decent attempt at attacking the topics of authenticity and integrity and he has a deft touch when it comes to melding music into a stories' narrative. But his set pieces, the production of a music album on the actual streets of New York, are too perfect and too often come off as travelogues for New York City. This story of personal redemption, as personified by the two main characters played by Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, is believable and the two have a palpable chemistry on the screen. The cast is professional and lends credible support led by Catherine Keener, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden[he is funny], Mos Def and Adam Levine. Like the two pop songs that are featured in the film, the film itself tends to linger and it insinuates itself into your brain longer than it really merits.

http://youtu.be/uTRCxOE7Xzc

[Jack of All Parades]

"Birdman[or the Unexpected Virtues of Ignorance]" by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu over the Thanksgiving holiday with Lisa Cohn Sjoholm and the family in Boston. Lots to chew on with this one. A strong cast led by Michael Keaton in a twitchy performance that should get him an Oscar nomination in January. As Riggen Thomson, he plays an actor down on his luck and looking at the end of his so-called career. He once was the Birdman in a highly successful movie franchise but that was decades ago and eerily this mirrors the actual career of Keaton who did the original Batman movies. In a desperate attempt to revive his career he is staging his own adaptation of a Raymond Carver story on Broadway at the St James Theatre. Riggen has flown to close to the 'sun' in his career and like Icarus has paid a price for that hubris. Things are always threatening to fall in this movie- arc lights on the head of an actor, Riggen's daughter, Sam, played smartly by Emma Stone as she is often perched on the ledge of the roof of the theatre ready to fall or leap. This movie wittily mocks the culture of celebrity that so many worship. People in this movie are always falling short.

A real treat was the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki. The movie is shot as if it is one continuous take with no seeming edits. The movie is some two hours but it passes by with the feel of real life. Inarritu has brought magical realism to life on the screen in inventive ways that stay with one. This is a wonderful movie and it stays with one long after the screen goes blank.

http://youtu.be/uJfLoE6hanc

[Jack of All Parades]

"The Lunch Box" last evening with Lisa. What a treat-emotionally and sensory. It is a beautifully executed first film by Ritesh Batra. It riffs on that old tear jerker "The Little Shop Around the Corner" by Ernst Lubitsch but modernizes the story taking it to bustling, crowded Mombai and its unique system of feeding its many workers with a lunchbox prepared by wives or neighborhood eateries and hand delivered daily by dabbawallahs[deliverymen]. The plot revolves around a lunchbox winding up on the wrong office desk. From this is developed a growing epistolary relationship between a lonely, ignored housewife,Ila, played by Nimrat Kaur, and a reticent and retiring, in more ways than just his age, office worker, Saajan, played by Irrfan Khan, in an Insurance Company. Saajan is palpable in his loneliness and his withdrawal from the world. It is the written interaction between these two that makes the story and the way the words are acted out on their faces and bodies without ever coming face to face. Saajan is so withdrawn that the scenes of him early in the film clinging to the handrails of the crowded commuter trains are painful to watch. It is a joy when one sees him towards the end of the film leaning out of the train and allowing the wind to rush across his face. His renewed engagement with the world through his interest in Ila is mirrored in the broad smile on his face. Up until then he has been hid away smoking tensely on his verandah and sneaking glances at the world around him. The words of the man hired to replace him upon his impending retirement jolt him back into life-unusual connections where 'the wrong train can get you to the right station'. This is a delicate and unforced film that gets its tone right. It does not have to have a Hollywood ending. In truth, its ending is rightly earned. Saajan is right when he writes in one of his last Lunchbox letters "we forget things if we have no one to tell them to." That eternal need for human connection is lovingly celebrated in this movie.

http://youtu.be/IJIGJtb_N7E

[Jack of All Parades]

Greatly enjoyed "Ida" by Pawel Pawlikowski the other night. The look, feel and intensity of a Janus classic but yet made in 2013. It is 1961-62 in Soviet held Poland and an 18 year old orphan novitiate is about to take her vows as a nun but before doing so the Mother Superior at the nunnery where the young girl has spent her life tells her some secrets about her past- mainly that she has a relative on the outside whom she is encouraged to visit before she takes her vows. That is the start of the film and the impetus for this remarkably jarring movie. It turns out the novitiate has an aunt in Lodz and that she is actually Jewish and that her parents were murdered by their neighbors in the war after they first hid the family from the Nazis in the woods outside of town. Ida Lubenstein, played by Agata Trzebuchowska, and Wanda Gruz, played by Agata Kulesza, make an extremely odd couple. Ida has nothing seemingly happen in her young life only to find out that as a baby she was given to the Catholic Church to raise. Wanda escaped the Nazi's as a young woman and joined the partisans fighting in the War later joining the Communists and becoming a Judge, the notorious "Red Wanda". All of a sudden as they search for what happened to Ida's parents in the war one is being inundated with new sensations and stories from the past while the other is forced to wrestle with survivor guilt and a terrible sense that the world 'is nothing'. There is so much uncovered in their road trip into the past-church and state, Catholicism and antisemitism and austerity and rebirth. The movie is shot beautifully with long camera framing that let the oppressive landscape and barren buildings weigh down upon you as a viewer, just as Poland's past weighs down on the two main characters. It forces the viewer to ask a serious question- what does one do with the past once one rediscovers it? The two principle characters wrestle with this dilemma in the guise of the two actresses-it is a marvel to watch them. The final frames of the film create an indelible image- the future rushing forward and the past slowly and emphatically receding backwards. It is a striking image in its sober execution by this director.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... 2063,d.eXY

[ice nine]

Just saw Birdman. It will get either Best Director or Best Movie. I am holding off on Best Actor, because I have not seen Theory of Everything or The Imitation Game.

[Jack of All Parades]

Only Boyhood gave me more pleasure at the movies this year...... though I am curious to see Inherent Vice in the coming weeks- Pynchon brought to the big screen in a 'big' way.

[ice nine]

Eddie Redmayne performance in Theory of Everything was magnificent and deserving of Best Actor. I believe it should win Best Picture. The film is more a love story between Jane and Steven then a film about Steven's work. Felicity Jones is a new actress, for me, to be on the lookout for.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Wild" was our Christmas Day movie this year and I came away disappointed. I think my daughter, Justine, hit upon why. She felt that it was probably one of those movies that reads far better on the page than it pictorially develops on a screen. The direction is static and mechanical at best and the only thing that holds one's attention consistently is the electric prose narration that is interspersed throughout the film along with the strong work done by Reese Witherspoon as the main character. Her attempt to redeem and recover her wasted life and to honor her recently deceased mother and to make peace with her fractuous relationship with her mother comes to visible life during the closeups of Ms. Witherspoon on the Pacific Coast Trail. It is too bad that her solid acting job is placed within a mechanically shot story by the film's director who did a much better job in his previous film- "The Dallas Buyer's Club". I wished I could have seen "Mr. Turner" or "Foxcatcher".

http://youtu.be/tn2-GSqPyl0

[Jack of All Parades]

I viewed 'Interstellar" New Year's Eve and was surprisingly bored and unimpressed. Christopher Nolan usually has something visually beautiful in his films to enjoy- not this time for me. It was near three hours of watered down advanced theoretical physics from the minds of Einstein and Hawking as filtered through a pedestrian dystopia story-you know we have ruined the earth and what are we going to do now?.
I came out wishing I had my three hours back by way of a 'wormhole'.

On a lighter side "on My Way" with Catherine Deneuve a few nights ago. A Gallic road movie and kind of a visual metaphor for her career. There is a time limit on beauty so why not 'live your life' is the message I came away with from this movie. It is a nice career caper for her.

Finally, a treat and a true surprise. Sometimes I expect so little from a film-in particular if it stars Gerard Depardieu of late. "My Afternoons with Margueritte" by Jean Becker turned out to be such a pleasant surprise. It is by no means a great move but it assiduously avoids being saccharine by the on screen chemistry between Depardieu, as Germain the village 'oaf', and the 97 year old Giselle Casadesus as the title character. The care they take for one another as their accidental friendship develops is lovingly depicted and aurally brought to life by the words they share during their afternoons on a park bench. Germain as a person is difficult to get out of one's head when the film ends.

http://youtu.be/flgBaCdBhGU

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched "The Skeleton Twins" by Craig Johnson the other night with Ms. Lisa. A surprise and an enjoyable one at that. Milo Dean, played by Bill Hader, and Maggie Dean, played by Kristen Wiig enter one's consciousness as two damaged souls both coming off near simultaneous suicide attempts-Milo's botched and Maggie's foiled because as she is about to consume a handful of sleeping pills her phone rings with a caller from a hospital clear across the country in LA advising her that her brother is okay but that he tried to take his life. This launches this touching mix of drama and comedy- the story of these two estranged siblings who have been out of one's lives for a decade. The movie is the emotional and deeper connection these siblings have as brother and sister. Theirs is a marred family- a father who committed suicide when they were young and an emotionally distant and narcissistic mother who spouts her new age cliches and has never connected with them, as played deliciously by Joanna Gleason. Luke Wilson plays Maggie's would be fiance, Lance, and the evolving dynamic between the siblings and Lance is what makes this film. It is never mawkish nor too full of itself. It strikes a perfect balance and does not try to do too much. It just lets a sweet story about some damaged people evolve. One of the sweetest moments is a lip synch session between the three towards the end which involves an intricate dance between them-I have never seen such a thing done so well on the movie screen. I also liked seeing the scenes of Nyack, NY and their famous Halloween parade. I now have a window into the dynamic of my wife's relationship with her brother[minus any failed suicide attempts]. A real surprise this movie and a pleasure to watch.

http://youtu.be/fQJ6vb-Pzb8

[Jack of All Parades]

"Love is Strange" by Ira Sachs last night with one of the best movie scores I have heard in some time courtesy of Chopin. It stars John Lithgow[Ben] and Alfred Molina[George] as an older couple- 35 years together who now decide to get married to celebrate their long union. That brings the trouble and the pain and it taxes their love. It is also the crux of this sensitive, funny, acutely observed family tale. George loses his job as a music teacher at a local Catholic school because he has married his companion even though he has always been open about his relationship with Ben and his lifestyle. Loss of his income means loss of their condo in the Village because they can no longer afford the mortgage as Ben is retired. Next comes the kindness of family and life apart from one another while they find a new place to live within their budget. The separation and its stresses are made palpably real by these two actors. You sense the love between these two men as they try to move forward while apart. You also feel their pain and sadness and need for one another. This film is never mechanistic. It does not try to wrap everything up neatly. Instead, like life, it lets you savor the incongruities that punctuate lives. What a tender film- I came away from it like I did from Tender Mercies many years ago-glad I had spent some time in their world.

http://youtu.be/XdfA5Ff5e78

[Jack of All Parades]

Have fallen a bit behind as I meant to write something about this one seen a number of night's ago- The Two Faces of January from a Patricia Highsmith novel and directed capably by Hossein Amini and staring Viggo Mortensen, Kirstin Dunst and Oscar Isaac. It is a taut psychological thriller and perhaps a leadup to The Talented Mr. Ripley. Once again Americans are a muck in Europe- in this case Greece and Crete and Turkey- Americans behaving badly in their amoral ways. No one is who they appear to be and the hero-Rydal, as played by Issac, least of all. He is as slippery and duplicitous as the couple. Stylish and well written and well acted and directed- it is entertaining to watch these three people squirm in the web of lies and deceptions they have caught themselves within. The final scenes in Istanbul back streets erily mirror the mental traps and mazes holding these two men together. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and Mortensen has not been so compelling on screen in some time since that movie many years ago with Paltrow and Douglas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrRHmhIDfjg

[Jack of All Parades]

I've been meaning to write about this one for awhile- The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby written and directed by Ned Benson. This one is the cut called Them. There is another called Him/Her, more later. Staring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy as a couple whose marriage has exploded. The premise of the movie is a tired trope- the effect of trauma on a marriage following the loss of a child. The action is filled with grief and denial and it is particularly stultifying in the close ups of the actor's faces as they go about their individual alienating and destructive behaviors. Filled with a strong cast- Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert, William Hurt, Bill Hader, Ciaron Hinds- as a viewer one struggles with the story-it just never really takes off- the city of New York is beautiful to look at as are the actors but as a story it fails to coalesce. That is where the Him/Her cut comes in. I think it may be a better way to get a handle on this story-as it intersperses various narratives and versions, cutting back and forth, much like something unfolds in real life. That is the movie I will recommend. Hopefully I will get a chance to view it, as well.

http://youtu.be/0dtk9yJDckw

[Jack of All Parades]

This past year has allowed me to view two inspiring and tremendous films- Boyhood and last night Keep On Keeping On- written and directed by Alan Hicks a first time director of this documentary. If you do not know about Clark Terry, that is your loss. This film could easily make you want to rectify that hole in your life. Mr. Terry is a master musician-some would argue the greatest trumpet player of the modern jazz era whose roots go back to St Louis and its poor neighborhoods and a young boy's love for music. He was the mentor and teacher to Quincy Jones and Miles Davis. Dizzy Gillespie called him a 'master'. As Herbie Hancock says in the film 'when you hear Clark, you hear his life. Only a master can do that." His craft and dedication and infectious humor are immediately caught on the screen. What makes this film special is the way it intersperses two lives- that of Mr. Terry and of a 23 year old blind pianist, Justin Kauflin, Mr. Terry's latest protege. One is facing his late life with a dignity and strength and joy that is inspiring and the other is looking at the promise a bright career as an elite musician. The juxtaposition of their two lives is moving. Teacher and student and just plain friends who gain so much from each others company. CT as his musician friends call him is a living history of jazz.. Principal trumpet player for Count Basie and then for Duke Ellington and then the first black staff musician at NBC. 70 years apart, these two just totally connect and their story connects with the audience. As CT says 'it's desire that separates masters from amateurs'.

Mr. Terry is a force. Erudite, dapper, warm and human, he solely sees his job as being one to make sure the music keeps going forward. We should all be so lucky to have such a person in our lives. I think quite a few people were his friend- that is the kind of person he is. I would have loved to get one of his famous post cards mailed from a distant place with the words of encouragement ' I believe in you. Keep on Keepin' on'. Just a beautiful man and a quietly beautiful film. It deserves a wide, wide audience.

http://youtu.be/M8QgLK2lPUQ

[Jack of All Parades]

Last night with Ms Lisa "St. Vincent" written and directed by Theodore Melfi and staring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Chris O'Dowd, Terrance Howard and a young, new actor who almost steals the movie, Jaeden Lieberner. The opening scene sets the tone for this loopy, misanthropic comedy with Murray seated at a neighborhood bar and regaling the regulars with tried and true jokes followed by a bleary, boozy walk through the neighborhood and a scary car ride home where he wrecks his fence and ultimately collapses drunk on his kitchen floor. When he awakens the next day the movie begins the comical and redemptive re-awakening of his life. The script piles on every trope and cliche associated with this type of story but it magically avoids laying them on too thick and instead gives you characters you learn to love in situations that are never forced or tired. At the core is Murray and his bleary, cynical and quietly compassionate Vincent. I also fell totally for the interaction between Murray and the young Lieberner who goes toe to toe with him in scene after scene managing to anchor all the other characters with his wise behind his years comments and reactions. I also love the score- songs by Jeff Tweedy, The National and a wonderful ending scene featuring Bob Dylan's music. This movie makes for a trifecta of American comedies I have seen in the last five years-Cedar Rapids, Bernie and now St Vincent. It is a great heart felt comedy. Watch the deleted scenes to tie up some loose ends- a few should have actually been left in the finished movie.

http://youtu.be/9dP5lJnJHXg

[Jack of All Parades]

The Drop last night with Ms. Lisa and the last film role for James Gandofini. A quietly compelling noir investigation of guilt and fear and how life can be random and irrational as it unfolds. Directed by Michael Roshoman, this movie is an impressive vehicle for Tom Hardy. He plays Gandofini's character Marv's cousin, the seemingly placid and 'slow' Bob. They work in a Brooklyn bar, once owned by Marv, as employees at the mercy of the Chechen mob. Throw in Noomi Rapace as Nadia, a love interest for Bob and you are off to the races with Rocky references. It is Hardy, though, in his quietly compelling portrayal of a man who on the surface seems so simple who makes this movie watchable. As the movie progresses you rapidly realize that he has many dangerous layers as they are slowly exposed by Hardy in a stunning performance. When coupled with the intelligent work of Gandofini- this movie is a master class in subtle development of character on screen. Well worth watching.

http://youtu.be/Iy_ogNiryZ8

[Jack of All Parades]

"Whiplash" the other evening with Ms. Lisa , written and directed by Damien Chazelle with two dynamic performances from JK Simmons and Miles Teller. It begins with a flurry of drumming as young man is furiously practicing and that sound of drumming permeates the rest of the movie almost like a heartbeat culminating in a glorious solo on the stage of Carnegie Hall, but at what cost. This movie is vibrantly alive from the first frame to the last and it it has strong cinematography and editing that wonderfully cuts and swings just like the music that gives such life to this movie. It is a thriller that makes the viewer question seriously what does it really take to make it in this world? How far will you push yourself or allow yourself to be pushed? The tension on the screen rises and falls like a well executed musical solo. JK SImmons's MR. Fletcher is a one of a kind character. His barbarous teaching technique is stomach churning. Miles Teller's Andrew is insecurity and confidence at the same time. Their interaction is mesmerizing , exhausting and nerve wracking. Fletcher likes to think he walks a fine line between sadist and inspiring teacher. I am not certain he crosses the line into abuse of his pupils. Part of that comes from the two chilling words he voices in the film-'the most dangerous two words in the English language are "Good Job"'. Mr. Fletcher stays with you long after the film ends.

http://youtu.be/zIP_gtjDtfE

[Jack of All Parades]

Two nights of particular American Horror stories-last night "Foxcatcher" by Bennett Miller and staring Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum with Ms. Lisa. Like "Whiplash" a few nights ago this movie effectively questions what success is and what it might cost-perhaps the cost of one's soul. It is also a cautionary tale about self invention. Carell's John E duPont, heir to the chemical family fortune, is a sad, creepy and scary character in his isolation. So is Channing Tatum's Mark Schultz- a primitive, near half formed individual whose only seeming joy in his limited life is the gold medal he won for wrestling in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Both men are 'wrestling' with themselves and no where is that better demonstrated than the opening shots in the movie where Tatum does an eerie pas de deux with a dummy in a training room. Neither is particularly formed as human beings. Their mash-up is all the sadder for their stunted qualities as human beings. Of the three, I appreciated the work of Ruffalo the most. The scenes early on of him in the gym training with his brother as they grab and jostle one another showed a real physicality and connectedness between human beings- something the two principal characters in this horror story never really demonstrate on their own. Like "Whiplash" a unique and cautionary tale about the costs equated with success and becoming one's own person.

http://youtu.be/8361stZ8n0w

[Jack of All Parades]

Nightcrawler last night with Ms. Lisa, a first film by Dan Gilroy which he also wrote and starring a terrific and horrific Jake Gyllenhaal who was robbed this past year when this performance was not nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. As Lou Bloom, he prowls the night in LA with his bugged out eyes and cadaver like tight skin and from his first utterance 'I'm lost' you know you are in for something exhilarating and frightening as a viewer. Shades of Leopold Bloom in Night-town in Ulysses. Nervous and nocturnal, Lou is a walking human amphetamine rush. This movie is about appetite and the public's thirst for sensational news and thrills. Lou is a quick study on how to fill that need- too quick. I could not take my eyes off of Gyllenhaal the entire movie. The story and its presentation has a pulse that is queasy in its beat and relentlessness. It is also the best piece of acting by Gyllenhaal I have seen up to now. "If it bleeds, it leads"

https://youtu.be/UPawRAHG-0g

[ice nine]

Just saw Mr Turner. Mr. Spall, as well the others actors, were great, the photography was beautiful, and the settings and period characters were very authentic.

[Jack of All Parades]

The Imitation Game by Morten Tyldum last evening with Ms Lisa. As bio-pics go this was a cut above the norm. Perhaps because I knew of the subject and of his importance or perhaps because of the excellent work turned in by Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing and Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke[yet another accomplished female scientist who had to labor in the shadows]. The movie does well to make the breaking of the Enigma code and Turing's seminal work in the 30's on the "Universal Machine"- the precursor to the computer- entertaining and exciting. The film is also an indictment of the British Judicial system in the 20th century with its horrid moral/class standards. What I enjoyed most was Cumberbatch's ability to show in his character a combination of cold detachment and extreme sensibility at the same time. That has to be hard to do. It made the film work as he explored the ranges of the autism scale.

https://youtu.be/nuPZUUED5uk

[Jack of All Parades]

The Babadook written and directed by Jennifer Kent last evening with Ms. Lisa. It might well be the best horror film I have seen in many a year. And it accomplishes its special chills with no slasher action or gratuitous violence or mutilations of nubile young women. Instead it is the real horror created out of a nimble and efficient psychological study of the dichotomy between a widowed mother and her troubled child. Amelia and Samuel are too alone in this world-Amelia with the terror of being a single parent and Samuel with the terror of being a solitary child. Together they are near toxic. Ms. Kent frames her film so imaginatively with the first half seen through the mother's sleep deprived eyes and the latter half through Samuel's protective vision for his mother. The culmination of the story is well earned-sometimes we just have to literally lock our fears away. Just a well done movie all around- writing, direction, acting and mood.

https://youtu.be/-mRhup5hLTM