Louder Than Bombs

Trier's English-languaged debut has been praised by many, but NOT by me. This is the essence of mediocrity: forgettable, not moving, not interesting, not dramatic. There is really no point to this. The cinematography is beautiful, the editing is quite inspired and interesting, but the script is awfully bland and the otherwise fantastic actors and actresses are wasted and utilized in a horrid way. Eisenberg is just plain old Eisenberg; Byrne can't save his character; and worst of all: Huppert is reduced to a boring character with no real depth or energy. It's all so incredibly lame. There are a few subplots in it, but it doesn't feel like it has a real plot or story that can drive the additions. Besides, the entire thing with the youngest son is that he likes to play Skyrim and he writes bad poetry that brings him success with a girl (realistic much??). This entire premise is horrible and made me sad for whoever wrote this uninspired crap: it's a big bowl of nothing. It's worse than nothing, it's boring, a void, a complete waste of time and Huppert. I hated it and almost couldn't finish it. Besides, a bunch of morals to the story did bother me: none of the characters are likable, but I feel like they were meant to be. The journey is not a journey, but a stagnant and static group of characters in a dull setup. It's not bad. It's just mediocre. Incredibly mediocre. Normally, the quite impressive productive forces behind a movie like this can make it count, but this one will be forgotten completely in five years - only remembered by the handful of people that could relate to one of the characters. I couldn't... Five out of ten. And maybe four on a bad day.

This film tells the story of a father and his two teenage sons, who core cope with the untimely death of their wife / mother due to a traffic accident. Their grief is further complicated by a breakdown on communication.

I tried very hard to understand the story, but honestly I didn't understand a thing. "Louder Than Bombs" tries to tell a story of a dysfunctional family, but it ends up being an aimless drivel. I have no idea what the story is trying to convey. It jumps between the past and present inexplicably, and there is little continuity and connection between the past and present. And what's the fascination with decomposition of bodies? Those scenes are just plain gross. Perhaps the scenes are there to be provocative, but they simply alienate viewers from the film. Furthermore, it is not interesting to see teenagers sulk all the time. I regret having wasted my time watching this indecipherable collage of scenes.

Not as smart as it thinks it is. It's not deep but acts like it is.

'LOUDER THAN BOMBS': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Insightful drama flick, from Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (in his English-language film debut). The movie tells the story of a husband, and his two sons, that are trying to cope with the death of the boys' mother. It was directed and co-written by Trier, with Eskil Vogt (Trier's usual writing partner). The film stars Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid, Isabelle Huppert, David Strathairn and Amy Ryan. It's a really well made movie, and it's also intensely involving.

Isabelle Reed (Huppert) was a very famous, and successful, war photographer; until her death, in a horrible car accident. Gene Reed (Byrne), and his sons, Jonah (Eisenberg) and Conrad (Druid), are still trying to get over her death. It appears as though Isabelle's death was a suicide, and her former coworker, Richard (Strathairn), is about to publish a newspaper article saying so. Gene wants to tell Conrad, who doesn't know this about his mother's passing, before the article is released; but Conrad is becoming increasingly hard for his father to talk to. Jonah recently had a child of his own, and he's just returned home, for the first time in a long while, to spend time with Gene and his depressed brother.

The movie is really well directed, and written, and the performances are all decent as well. It's a really sad story, with very well thought out and realistic characters. What's most impressive about the movie, is how inspiring it is (despite all this). Finding light in seemingly overpowering darkness, is a really hard thing to do; but Trier impressively pulls it off. He also tells the story in a pretty fresh, and unique way too. I really like this film.

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Saturday night and only 12 people in the theatre to see this movie. Half way through 5 had walked out. Personally I thought it was a good watch, but it won't be to everybody's liking.

A thought provoking, moving story about the effects on a husband and two sons after their wife/mother is killed in a car crash. Good performances by Gabriel Byrne and Jesse Eisenberg as the husband and older son, but it's Devin Druid that steals the show as Conrad, the younger son, who gives an outstanding performance as a young man filled with grief. Conrad finds it difficult to communicate with his father Gene, but finds some comfort in his writings, while his older brother Jonah is not as nice as he first appears.

Isabelle Huppert plays the mother, who does not feature in the movie very much, but plays a vital part nonetheless.

It's a movie you need to watch and concentrate on, but it's worth the effort.