Unless

Reta Winters (Catherine Keener) and Tom Winters (Matt Craven) have three daughters. The family struggles to understand after daughter Norah Winters (Hannah Gross) drops out of college and decides to live on the streets of Toronto for no obvious reason.

This is an interesting concept. These actors are squeezing all the juice out of it. At some point, I would like the plot to do more. I'm not saying that it's repetitive, but the middle is a lot of the same with a few minor detours. Maybe have more from Norah's point of view like the creep. The movie answers one question, but has nothing concrete.

Well, I am not sure I understood what it is exactly that the director was trying to say in this film. You can feel there is a message there. After all, that "goodness" sign is right in the middle of the most of it. But I am not quite sure what that message was meant to be. The film does touch on quite a few topics like the homelessness, the fragility of happiness, etc. But all of that did not quite all get together. The family drama part and the acting was great, you can certainly feel the confusion and the despair of them so wanting to help and not understanding how. But then, when the explanation came at the end, I'd say I felt no less confused on what "goodness" has to do with all that and what the girl (and the director) wanted to say. Anyway, it certainly maid me want to read the book to fill in all the gaps.

The premise of the movie is interesting enough to give "Unless" a chance. Reta is a writer who finds her daughter Norah dropped out of school and is living in the streets. She and her family will face this predicament in different ways while they try to find the reasons why Norah chose to do that.

The problem with the movie, at the end of the day, is that it tries too hard to be profound and have deeper meanings in its socio-political commentary that fails to have the desired effect and doesn't deliver once the reasons for Norah's behavior are known.

Entertaining for the most part, but it's not worth the time.

Must watch if you like interesting and deep meanings.