The Living

In this movie, just about everyone is attempting to control some other person. There is overt control, there is manipulative control, there is suggestive control, there is, 'I am going to take over this relationship' kind of control.

If you enjoy this sort of movie, this is a quite decent implementation, especially given the person who seemed least controlling pulls off an action of which his character and personality suggested he was incapable.

Not my sort of dish, but it held my attention to the end, which means it wasn't half bad.

What I do isn't about the people that die. It's about the people that are left alive. They get the short end of the stick, as far as I'm concerned.

"The Living" is a basic revenge film in which the reprisal turns out quite differently than initially intended. A social drama about domestic violence and alcoholism, although I started wondering after a while how critical this alcohol problem was. The evolution to this violent abuse wasn't discussed. How could it come to this? Were there already signs of an oncoming problem? And were there cases of domestic violence already in the past? You're kept in the dark when it comes to these relevant considerations.

The first image, accompanied by music from The de Luca Brothers, is that of some empty beer bottles scattered around on the ground and an unconscious Teddy (Fran Kranz), who apparently is sleeping it off. Upon awakening he finds out he has a bloody hand and his wedding ring is missing, after which he becomes aware something terrible happened the previous night. The fact that his young wife Molly (Jocelin Donahue) is no longer present in the house, confirms his suspicion. Molly has fled to her parents' home where her mother Angela (Joelle Carter) and brother Gordon (Kenny Wormald) still live. When Teddy arrives there and Molly returns with him despite everything that happened, Angela threatens to use her shotgun and shoot Teddy. Simultaneously she's also furious about Gordon defending his sister in a lax way. Mad about what happened to his sister, Gordon takes the advice of a workmate (who knows someone who also knows someone else who could teach a person a lesson), and he goes looking for this person to solve the problem once and for all.

Unfortunately this is, despite some brilliant performances, a fairly banal story with a predictable storyline and no surprising conclusion. The whole film actually just shows the emotional relationship between a few people. First, the fragile and broken relationship between Molly and Teddy. Molly makes it clear to Teddy that he has to do everything to make up for the incurred suffering. What bothered me in this part of the story, was twofold. Teddy doesn't really resemble a typical alcoholic who tends to use violence against his wife. He looks remarkably fresh after an evening of heavy drinking (with a solid blackout as a result) and seemingly he doesn't have problems with staying away from booze. And Molly didn't need much time to forgive him again. Teddy didn't have to pay enormously for his actions. But I'm convinced this is most common in this kind of situations.

The second relationship arising in this film is that between the timid, uncertain Gordon and Howard (Chris Mulkey), the psychopathic killer who isn't afraid of murdering someone for a few dollars. This subtle interplay between these two opposites was the most fascinating of the whole movie. Magisterial acted by both. The realization that slowly grows to Gordon that he may have took the wrong decision. Howard is someone who is straightforward and clearly takes matters in hand to finalize it. There's a key moment in a restaurant where I thought the film was going to escalate into a spiral of violence. But to my surprise it remained to that single moment and the impact was limited to the fact that Gordon was more uncertain and scared to dead of Howard. Mulkey is brilliant as the crazy killer. Top performance.

But as I mentioned earlier, these superb performances can't cover up that the essential substance of this film is kind of feeble. A succession of obvious events and a simple story with no undue risks taken. Domestic violence is usually a complex psychological story. In "The Living" this is elaborated rather simplistic. Even the injuries Molly had after the quarrel, didn't exactly look realistic (it was more a result of a makeup party that got out of hand). Thanks to the charismatic Mulkey, this film was worth to watch.

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I saw this film at the Tallgrass Film Festival, and it was excellent. Jack Bryan really knows how to write a compelling tale, and the film ends in a way that Hollywood could never deliver. There's a well-established sense of the world that the characters inhabit, and it never feels like a low-budget production. There are several long dialog takes that are thoroughly impressive performances. It's good to see Fran Kranz in a serious role, as he totally sells the character. Hopefully this acts as a showcase for more dramatic projects. I was unfamiliar with Jocelin Donahue, but will definitely keep an eye out for her in other films. Chris Mulkey is a beast, and absolutely kills it. The people involved in making this movie are clearly talented and passionate individuals, and I can't wait to see what they bring to the table next.

Watched it because of love indie films. I finished the movie, wondering "how did I end up wasting my time with this one?" I am not a movie reviewer but I just simply had to put my two bits in on this one! I hated it. Low budget, bad acting, poor directing, bad sound, bad picture. Yuck!

Make-up was horrible. How did this get on my list of movies to watch?

I sat through 90 minutes of wondering if a plot would thicken or a twist would come. Never. The movie didn't improve from the first minute. It just went on and on, into nothing...

I don't even know who the main characters were. Not one of the actors stood out as anyone to follow in the story. Not one of the actors showed any sign of acting ability. I will try and make sure to never watch anything with any of the actors that were in this film or even involved in the production. I just wish they could all be blacklisted for me. Spare us all, please.

'The Living' is about unintended consequences arising from difficult decisions clouted by complicated personalities and troubled minds. It is a nice indie dark movie, with several highlights but some compromising flaws.

Acting is surprisingly good, with actors punching way above their weight. This his the highlight of the movie. The slow scenes with agonizing seconds of silences give them a dark and deep vibe, and the actors nail it, looking natural and very comfortable on screen.

The context of the story plot is very cliché, however, as it revolves about the struggles of a battered woman and her alcoholic husband who loves-her-even-though-he-hit-her.

Strangely, the lack of character development isn't that much detrimental on 'The Living' as it would be in many other movies, as the focus quickly shifts to the mental state and how the characters process the situation they got themselves involved with, instead of just re-telling a worn-out and over-used simple story line.

Finally, editing seems to be hurried up, as it is the case of so many otherwise promising indie productions, unfortunately. As I mentioned, many individual scenes are harrowing, deep and engaging, but the transitions don't work that well, which is frustrating.

I give 'The Living' a 6/10 score, realizing I'm averaging some very good marks with poor ones. Having so much quality disparity is what, in my opinion, makes the difference between some other reviews here that swing from critical 3s to glowing 9s and 10s.