Disclosure

Disclosure is a well-acted and thoughtful film that could easily have been a play but does a lot with its single location and miniscule cast and budget. It deals with a single afternoon in which two couples clash in increasingly ugly ways over an accusation made by one of their children against another. The premise itself reminded me quite a bit of 2011's "Carnage", although I actually think it gets better results than Polanski did, and with a much thornier topic.

While it does a detailed and subtle job of equally portraying the realities of the four principle characters, it seems (inevitably, in 2020) to come down on the side of 'believe all unfounded accusations any female makes against any male, no matter how old' and therefore on the side of treating 9 year old children like 50-year old repeat sex offenders. Which I guess is what the glowing reviews mean when they say it's "timely".

The basic struggle at the centre could have been dealt with in less-than feature-length time, and, while it is not dull, or poorly told, it does feel like it drags a little. Having said that, I appreciate what it tries to do and so recommend watching the once, with the above reservations.

Disclosure uses minimal framing and long takes to immerse the viewer in the drama. There are few cut aways or B-roll shots making the audience feel party to the events that involve throughout the afternoon on a beautiful sunny afternoon. This leads to a claustrophobic effect as we see at the reactions and body language of each character in relation to what they are hearing.

It's a tough subject matter to deal with child on child sexual abuse, but Micheal Bentham deals with it with sensitivity. Cinematographer Mark Carey also adds a beautiful and delicate touch.

DISCLOSURE ⭐⭐⭐ How would you react if your best friend's 9 year-old son had just abused and attacked your 4 year-old daughter during a Summer gathering? It's a very complicated situation, utterly uncomfortable and dysfunctional. It involves kids, modern behavior and bad influence, hormonal confusion, violence, precocious sex. And if such scandal happens to be in a small, conservative community, including a politician's reputation, things can get out of control, for the sake of good values. Writer-Director Michael Bentham's debut feature isn't shy of putting all the controversial matter on the table, as the couples, parents of the children, are reunited to discuss the issue and solve it at whatever cost it will take. The film opens with a slow-motion, friendly-like look at the community in movement through the sidewalks, and immediately cuts to the climax of a sexual activity between a couple, enjoying it while recording themselves. It's a sign there's something bizarre about to happen, as the residents of such a quiet community seem to have unusual, straight-forward habits. The use of slow motion continues through the film, especially highlighting moments of extreme distress. Cinematographer Mark Carey does a fabulous job with enhanced lights on the sunny, green-filled Australian estate, with beautiful observations on insects, shades into the woods, the shining water, the heat, fire, leaves, and of course, the facial confrontations. The four actors who play both couples dealing with this disturbing moral issue give courageously convincing performances, roles influenced by stage-techniques but in complete harmony with the magic imagery of the screen. Another fascinating attribute to the film is the fact we barely see the children. There's a glimpse of the boy in an euphoric attack at the beginning, and we finally see the accuser, the 4-year-old Natasha at the very last scene. With the premise of abuse predominating throughout the narrative, many ideas are proposed, with relevance on modern adults' behavior, and children's behavior, resulting in a stirring, investigative and thought-provoking analysis on loyalty, righteousness, acceptance, frustration, privilege and sexual taboo. Director Bentham masterly pushes the players to drastic conclusions, as they insist on their distinctive perspectives on the case, hurting, offending and committing attacks to each other's privacy in order to save themselves from the scandal. A very satisfying and well-done dramatic production, it suffers from repetitive dialogue, but despite that flaw, it's a controversial, gripping, intense and authentic account on human instinct and priorities.

Its adults quarelling, pair against pair, wrenching and bending over their childrens way of ''playing ''with eachother, do you wanna play doctor and innocent stuff like that that most curious children do or did at least 50 years ago.

but pride and prejudice and a whole lot of stubborness, and personal peeling off the layers of controlled behaviour as the verbal strategic talk and infuriating bodymovements makes this a destructive mess of sodoma and gomorrah like dimentions of adult friendship.

so its a verbal aggitative flick, one location and small cast, doing a brilliant job all four. the film do lack the visual story of the claimed sexual attack done by one kid to another, but that might as well be so because its a uncomfortable film to watch even without that part of the story. it has some sexual content anyway,why? well have a look and youll find out.

i think the whole production are brilliant, it has the opportunity to be sequelized, if so the grumpy old man will swallow that one too. its not a childfriendly movie, but otherwise its a recommend

The limited characters and dependence on back and forth dialogue make this far more like a play than a film, with the corresponding static quality of action as opposed to lively speech. A host of issues are touched on and secrets are revealed, betrayed, bounced around... To what ultimate effect? Ah. That will depend on the viewer. Personally I got irritated at them all and didn't really feel like I ended up anywhere.