Capitán Fantástico

"Captain Fantastic" (2016 release; 119 min.) brings the story of Ben and his 6 kids. As the movie opens, we are looking onto the breath-taking landscapes of western Washington. The camera then zooms in on a deer, and before we know it, the deer is killed by a brutal knifing (with audible gasps in the theater audience). It turns out to be Ben's oldest son. Ben exclaims proudly "today a boy is dead, in his place is a man!". We get to know Ben and the 6 kids, ranging from 17 to about 7 or 8 in age, as they live completely off the grid. As we wonder "where is Ben's wife/the mom?", we learn that Leslie is in the hospital due to bipolar disorder. One day Ben drives into town to call the hospital to see how Leslie is doing... At this point we're not event 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the second feature length from actor/writer/director Matt Ross, who previously directed the under the radar "28 Hotel Rooms". Here he brings something completely different, and a social experiment at that: what if you raise a family completely off the grid, in a utopian but clear anti-capitalistic setting, without any interaction with the "real" world, and what would happen if at one point those children are forced to confront the "real" world. Fascinating idea, and one that Ross examines quite nicely. The movie excels even more due to the performance of Viggo Mortensen, which is out of this world, but truth be told: the six kids are quite outstanding as well. The movie is pretty much perfect for the first 90 min., but then struggles to come to a reasonable conclusion, regretfully. There is also an outstanding score for this movie, courtesy of Alex Somers and performed by Somers and Jonsi (of Sigur Ros). Apart from the score, there are a number of other good song placements throughout the movie (but not Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", if you were wondering). Can't wait to check out the soundtrack.

"Captain Fantastic" won Matt Ross the best director award in the "Un Certain Regard" showing at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The movie finally opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely, I am happy to say. It seems that, other than the gasps in the opening scene of the movie, the audience really enjoyed the movie. I know I did. If you are interested in a very solid family drama with a unique social experiment, you cannot go wrong with this, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. "Captain Fantastic" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Captain Fantastic (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Viggo Mortensen plays Ben, a father of six who is raising his children in a forest somewhere in the Northwest. Sectioned off from the real world, Ben teaches his children the education he feels they need and he also puts them through a physical training that has them extremely fit. After the suicide of his wife and their mother, the seven hop on their bus and head towards the funeral.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is certainly one of the better movies of 2016 and you could argue that it presents an extremely interesting and highly entertaining look at various social issues going on. Most people would look at this family and call them complete weirdos because of the way they live. Living in the woods. Hunting for your own food. No internet. No television. Basically they live like people used to before the world went a little mad. Director-writer Matt Ross really paints quite an entertaining picture of this family living off the grid yet it seems they have the most important things down pat.

I was really surprised at this film because it works on so many levels. I guess the simplest thing to say is that this film and the family in it perfectly capture life as there are many highs and lows here as well as many laughs, many fights, many great times and certainly many bad. At times the film works as a perfect comedy and at other times it's the perfect family drama. I was really impressed at how the director managed to make all of these emotions work so well off one another and it really did make for a complete picture.

All six of the actors playing the kids do a remarkable job and we get other great supporting performances including the ones by Steve Zahn and Frank Langella. Langella deserves a lot of credit because he really plays quite the jerk here yet he does so in such a fashion to where you can see and feel where he is coming from and understand the character. With that said, there's no question that it's Mortensen who is the star of the picture and he easily steals it. This is such a deep and complex character that you really did need someone like Mortensen to make it work. This is especially true since the actor can pull off the hippie side of this character so well but he also nails the dramatic side as well as the side of being a father and realizing that you might have messed up along the way.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is certainly an original picture, which isn't something that happens too often these days. We've seen movies about strange families before but this one really hits all the right notes.

Mortensen plays Ben, A father of six children, whose wife suffers from mental illness and Ben thought it would be good for her and the kids to live out in the wild, living off the land and tossing the rules of our society out the window. However, Ben's wife did not get better. Captain Fantastic mostly focuses on the children. On a road trip towards their mother's funeral, they get a culture clash with the rest of the world. It lays out all the info for the question of weather these kids were raised right or raise wrong. Captain Fantastic starts off showing you the children's lifestyle, were organic met growing and hunting your own food and made their own clothes and were home schooled. Then they come into society where everyone looks at them as if they are freaks, but why is it weird that these kids don't know the name brand of sneakers? The look on their faces when they experienced Street Fighter for the first time makes sense when your not use to such things. Besides, it's a shame on our Society that an 8 year old can comprehend the Bill of Rights better than those older than her. Watching these kids tackle the woods than watching them adapt to society was a bit of an eye opener. Some times the movie punches you in the gut, like when the talk about religious "organizations" and how Fat everyone in the city seems to be, but the blow is softer cause it's coming from children. But Captain Fantastic is not all one sided, detailing some down qualities of living in the wild , like the eldest son's overzealous first encounter with the opposite sex or the fact that It was the parents choice to live out in the woods, not the child's. Mortensen played the part well of a man who sometimes got too clouded by his beliefs of doing the right thing by his family and who sometimes went to far to prove a point. Also like Frank Langella's character, the father who just lost his daughter and blames his son-in-law. It's was good cause you really know people like the character he plays. Steve Zahn and Kathryn Hahn were also terrific in the movie playing yin to Ben's yang, as parents who don't fully see eye to eye with what he's doing. Overall, everyone has a upbringing different from everyone else and Captain Fantastic takes that statement to a different level, but at it's core, he's just a parent who loves his children and is trying to do the best he can in a difficult time. This theme radiates from Mortensen and the rest of the cast, which is what makes it so Fantastic.

Greetings again from the darkness. There seems to be no end to the theories on how to be an effective parent and raise kids who are productive, well-adjusted and successful. Writer/director Matt Ross offers up a creative, entertaining and thought-provoking story of one family's unconventional approach in a world that seems to expect and accept only the conventional.

We are first introduced to Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his six kids as they are stalking a deer while deep in the Pacific Northwest forest … only this isn't your buddy's weekend deer hunting trip. Each family member is covered head-to-toe in mud and other means of camouflage, and the oldest son Bodevan (George MacKay) takes the lead with his knife in what is presented as a rite of passage into manhood.

The family carries out a daily ritual that includes extreme physical conditioning, lessons on survival and living off the land, and advanced education that includes reading such diverse material as Dostoevsky and Lolita. Each evening is capped off with an impromptu musical jam. It's evident that self-sufficiency, intelligence and family loyalty are crucial to Ben's approach … an approach that is challenged when circumstances require the family board their Partridge Family bus (named Steve) and take a cross-country road trip into a civilization that doesn't know what to make of them (and vice-versa).

The film is jam-packed with social commentary on education, parenting, societal norms, societal influences, and even grief. Who gets to decide what is best for a family or what's the best method for education? Sometimes the dysfunctional family isn't so easy to identify. Director Ross proves this in a gem of a dinner table scene as Ben and the kids visit Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn and their two sons in suburbia.

In addition to the terrific performance by up-and-comer George MacKay, the other actors playing the kids are all very strong and believable: Samantha Isler as Kieyler, Annalise Basso as Vespyr, Nicholas Hamilton as Rellian, Shree Crooks as Zaja, and Charlie Shotwell as Nai. Screen vets Frank Langella and Ann Dowd bring presence to the role of their grandparents and provide the greatest contrast to the off-the-grid existence of the kids.

Viggo Mortensen truly shines here and gives a performance full of grace and depth as he displays many emotions (some of which aren't so pleasant). He even goes full-Viggo for one of the film's many humorous moments … though the comedy is balanced by plenty of full scale drama. His best work comes in the scenes when he begins to question that there may be some flaws in his plan … the moments of self-realization are stunning.

Many will note some similarities between this film and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), though this one carries quite a bit more heft. It's beautifully photographed by cinematographer Stephane Fontaine (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) and captures the danger and solitude of the forest, while also capturing the more personal family dynamics. It's a film that should generate plenty of discussion, and one of the questions is … will Noam Chomsky Day ever match Festivus in popularity?

Set against the beautiful Pacific Northwest backdrop, Captain Fantastic is easily one of the most nuanced films to come to mainstream cinema in the last few years. It's main plot addresses the struggle when everyone has the best intentions but not the same values. Additionally, the film makes honest and straightforward comments on controversial issues in today's society that are often taboo in the media such as mental illness, the hypocrisy of children's exposure to violence and sex, religion, and the flaws in the American education system. This sounds heavy and uncomfortable but these issues are paralleled in such a way that parts of the film had us in tears; from laughing so hard. Director Matt Ross says the project started as an exaggerated exploration of the difficult choices that must be made in regards to raising children in today's society. I think the film goes a step further and awakens an internal dialogue in each of it's viewers about the way that we live our own lives based on societal influences. Furthermore, the performances given by the perfectly arranged cast enhance your investment in the story in a way that will cause you to question what right and wrong really are when you're only trying to do your best and do what you think is best for those that you love.