Bad Behaviour

My first solo film of 2024. Just me in a cinema and after half an hour I was beginning to understand why! "Lucy" (Jennifer Connelly) is trying to have a phone conversation with her daughter "Dylan" (auteur Alice Englert) whilst en route to a remote Oregon retreat. She's thousands of miles away in New Zealand and we get the distinct impression that she's not especially interested. That's a feeling that's quite contagious as we all now endure her experience at the spiritual "Loveranch". A supposedly tech-free place run by "Elon" (Ben Whishaw) that encourages people to open their hearts, their souls and their brains to meaningless waffle about finding yourself. Now insofar as this is supposed to be a parody of this kind of rip-off facility, it sort of works - especially with the arrival of model and DJ "Beverly" (Dasha Nekrasova) to whom "Lucy" takes not just an instant dislike but also the leg of a chair! Meantime the daughter has an incident of her own on the whacky film set where she is stunt artist. That results in her losing her job and racing home to be by the side of her now incarcerated mother. If you weren't bored already, then the best is yet to come - a positively nauseating tale of family discord, a suicide attempt involving some pills and the shallow end of a swimming pool and, finally, some meaningful conversations amidst the forest with running water gently trickling a-foot! Can they salvage the relationship? Does it need savaging? Do we care? Perhaps this read better as a script, and there are times when I felt the wrath of "Lucy" emanating from the screen, but for the most part this is the stuff of a really poor stage play that reminded me again that Ben Whishaw is no great shakes at all on the big screen - indeed, I wonder if he was actually acting at all! As "Yoda" might have said - one fun scene does not a movie make.

It had some really funny and heartwarming moments. There were a couple of scenes, towards the end, that felt very authentic and emotional. I think that the script brought up some lesser explored themes that I connected with. Jennifer Connelly is superb as always. I felt like the story could have been told a little bit more cohesively. But I think that Alice Englert, who also wrote and co-starred in it, did a great job for her directorial debut. Jennifer's clothing aesthetic comforted me and I will love her character for a long time. She has great comedic abilities even if she's often been typecasted to darker roles. There were some beautiful shots, especially the one at the end... that was absolutely stunning.

Starts out as a subtle, but very efficient witty satire about people trying to heal themselves in a meditative retreat weekend, but then suddenly half way through (just as I was wondering if anything dramatic would happen) things turn bleak with an out of wack violent plot turn that I really hadnt seen coming.

The good: a truly brilliant acting performance by Jennifer Connelly, whom we all know from her pretty face roles in the nineties and on (Top Gun), but Top Gun fans stay away from this movie, because this is serious hardhitting drama and no fluffy action romance.

Jennifer Connelly now shows her real acting capabilities with a devestating performance as a mother, who is "DEAD INSIDE" and cant stand to live in her own skin and who has passed her mental pain on to her daughter with a lot of soul wrecking negative fallout. And that is the core of this subtle, bleak drama.

Art house movie fans beware, this is one solid acting gem, with long unedited takes, beautiful photography and sound. I truly applaud the direction by Alice Englert!

Slow, but gripping. Bleak, yet still warm and endearing. Cold, but so humanlike. I am impressed!

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"Bad Behaviour boasts an all-in, powerful performance from Jennifer Connelly, but it's too messy, tonally unbalanced, and narratively all-over-the-place to connect with. It wastes too much time being nonsensical before the mother-daughter relationship gets interesting. Disappointing.

I'm unaware of how much of a personal project this is or even if it's personal at all. Still, Bad Behaviour is one of those films I just couldn't connect with in any shape or form. There's a layer of exaggeration and overdramatization that makes it all feel fictional and less grounded. And that, to me, turns into a massive obstacle to overcome. I hope others can feel the opposite."

Rating: D+

This movie was well written. The acting was extremely good. This movie won't serve most people because it doesn't have aliens, gangsters, monsters, zombies, or a major crisis that needs to be averted.

The backdrop isn't the predictable NYC nor any other major city. The characters are average people. No high profile, rich, and powerful careers. This film was about a woman struggling with indifference, regret, guilt, and shame. She harbored anger for the way her mother treated her. Now, she's coming to grips that she treated her own daughter just as harshly.

Mom went to a retreat to reconnect to an inner peace. Emotions were brought to the surface that we're dormant for so long. I know a few women that act just like the mom did here - played by Jennifer Connelly. The daughter, played by Alice Englert was equally impressive. She also wrote and directed the movie at the whopping age of 28.

A great story about people suffering but trying to do their best. Some may say it's a movie about a mother and daughter dealing with mental health issues. Perhaps. However, I saw it more as two women dealing with their past while contemplating how they want their futures to look so the pain inflicted onto them doesn't continue getting projected onto others. It's in the present moments when they become aware how they've been hurt and have hurt the ones who matter the most. The scars are deep. How does one forgive for the healing to begin?

This film captured real struggles every day people internalize. The dialog was very authentic. This is real life family interaction.

I'm not sure audiences can handle common people doing typical things, wrestling with their own sufferings without an alien invasions, car chases, espionage, monsters, tragedy, overcoming extreme odds, or radical shootouts.

You see, it's the audience that's most basic in their own thoughts, feelings, and actions that prevents them from seeing and appreciating the depths of this marvelous presentation.