DERN AND BUJOLD AREBPLENTY TO RECOMMEND
Bruce Dern and Genevieve Bujold play bickering grandparents who inherit their grandson for an indeterminate amount of time in this film set in the isolated woods of Vermont in the late 1950's. This film is about familial love and misunderstanding. There's little melancholia or anything to feel warm and fuzzy about, but Dern and Bujold help the film rise above its conventions.
Dern might have had an Oscar nod for this film but he had the distinct misfortune for making the film 'Nebraska' (and creating a similar angry character) in the same year (2013). He was Oscar-nominated for 'Nebraska' and not for this film. Bujold has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world and she remains so here (she was 71 when she made this film.) Dern and Bujold, acting champs that they are, work well together creating sparks and they salvage the film overall.
Most of the rest of the characters are underdeveloped (especially the father who drops off his son to the grandparents.) Then, there's the bank robber daughter (I'm not kidding) who, late in the film, hijacks the picture and the story completely. At least the role is played by an actress skilled enough to try to pull off such a weird and basically unbelievable character. Would've loved to see what Tatum O'Neal would've done with it.
The film is slow, so be warned, and the hatefulness between the principles very nearly does the picture in but Dern and Bujold are a wonder to behold and plenty enough to recommend this film. I found myself thinking about it days after seeing it, so that's always a good sign of an indelible if (in this case) sometimes unbelievable story.
Dern might have had an Oscar nod for this film but he had the distinct misfortune for making the film 'Nebraska' (and creating a similar angry character) in the same year (2013). He was Oscar-nominated for 'Nebraska' and not for this film. Bujold has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world and she remains so here (she was 71 when she made this film.) Dern and Bujold, acting champs that they are, work well together creating sparks and they salvage the film overall.
Most of the rest of the characters are underdeveloped (especially the father who drops off his son to the grandparents.) Then, there's the bank robber daughter (I'm not kidding) who, late in the film, hijacks the picture and the story completely. At least the role is played by an actress skilled enough to try to pull off such a weird and basically unbelievable character. Would've loved to see what Tatum O'Neal would've done with it.
The film is slow, so be warned, and the hatefulness between the principles very nearly does the picture in but Dern and Bujold are a wonder to behold and plenty enough to recommend this film. I found myself thinking about it days after seeing it, so that's always a good sign of an indelible if (in this case) sometimes unbelievable story.
- dasilentpardner-65037
- 17. Jan. 2023