O Refúgio

Hoo boy, let the discussions flow.

It is rather lovely to soak in a well made piece of cinema that will no doubt elicit a bevy of experiences depending on the audience. "The Nest" has a basic mid-life family implosion crisis plot at it's core, but just how rotten is it?

Jude Law (Rory) is a slick talking investment advisor, living a comfortable New York life, with a pretty horse-training wife, and requisite two children. Yet he yearns for more. Soon the quartet are off to his England, to live in an isolated ancient mansion filled with too many rooms, a table so big it cannot leave the premises, and secret doors. Sounds like a horror movie, and in a sense, it is. Just not of the supernatural variety.

Law owns the screen as the flashy business stud, pushing all his chips into the middle of the table, dragging his reluctant dependents along for the ride. Carrie Coon (Allison) is his American match, willingly embracing her husband and his white lies until breaking point, then unleashing a vindictive, cruel yet understandable side in their escalating partnership.

Is this a family drama? An allegory for greed? A warning? A husband and wife coming to relationship climax?

A riveting turning point, actually one of many, has Allison beaming beside her man at a posh dinner party, as the boss welcomes him back to the English fold, revealing a devastating lie. Her smile doesn't break, but it is clear that there is trouble a foot. Much trouble. The husband and wife dance continues, but as finances spiral out of control, the tight solitary quartet starts to crack.

Every act is punctuated by a primo British new wave nugget from the likes of the Cure or Psychedelic Furs as a reminder we are in the eighties. It is a rather odd reminder, as the movie really doesn't depend on an era, other than referencing the greediness of the Reagan and Thatcher right uprising. It does elicit a weird alarm bell of nostalgia for anyone of that age, and perhaps was a bit of directorial self-indulgence. Not unwelcome mind you.

How and not why this plays out is the strength of this film. Blame is easy to hurl, but sometimes life is the problem.

A moody a piece of cinema, both visually and thematically, "The Nest" is a film that leaves an odd, bitter aftertaste, long after the main course is digested. A burner.

• hipCRANK

It would be impossible for me to rate this file. My wife and I chose to watch this film looking for thriller. It turned out to be anything but. If I had to classify this film, I would call it psychological character study. As this is not what we expected to see, we spent the whole time wondering when the thriller elements would begin. When the ending credits started, we thought it was a complete waste of time and regretted not picking something else. If it was properly classified, it might be an excellent film. It might rate a 7 or more. If you expected a thriller as we did this would rate a 0 or 1 which is something I would never do.

"The Nest" was totally preaching to this choir.

The older we get, the more my wife and I find ourselves drifting into the life philosophy of minimalism. Our focus is on cutting all the junk out of our lives, not just material junk, but psychological and emotional junk as well. This means deciding where are priorities are, what's important to us, and eliminating things and people that interfere with that.

The patriarch in "The Nest," played by Jude Law, is pretty much the exact opposite of that. Never content with what he has (which is a lot when the movie starts, and more than most people on the planet will ever have) he insists on moving his family into a giant and decaying mansion in England in order to take a job that he knows will give him his big break. But it doesn't, and the effect his greedy lust for more, more, more has on his family comprises the plot of this movie. Law is very good, but Carrie Coon, as his wife, steals the show. Her character arc is the film's most fascinating element, a woman who's allowed herself to become subservient to her husband but for whom subservience doesn't come naturally. A couple of scenes, both set at dinner tables as it happens, where she asserts her dominance over her husband, are the film's most uncomfortable and memorable.

Some symbolism involving a pet horse is broadcast with all of the subtlety of a tornado siren, and the sheer unpleasantness of being around these miserable people may turn some viewers off, but I mostly found myself engaged with this one.

Grade: A-

Sean Durkin's new film is a modest yet searing drama about a family that relocates from the United States to the English countryside after the father (Jude Law,) an entrepreneur, moves his job. The move eventually brings out a variety of conflicts between him and his wife. The film works best as both a layered character study of the two leads (Jude Law and Carrie Coon.) Both of them are very well-developed as characters, with their strengths yet deep-seated flaws thoughtfully communicated. Viewers are able to feel for both of them, and will understand their imperfections while simultaneously sympathizing with some aspects of their daily lives.

The film's aesthetic, including the score, are beautifully understated. This isn't a flashy film, but it's not trying to be. The score is ominous yet powerful and moody in the best way possible. The screenplay goes a great job ratcheting up dramatic tension between the husband and wife, while also providing careful context to the narrative on many levels-Jude Law's character's work situation, the characters' relations with others they meet while settling into life in the UK, and how they respond to difficult and adverse events. The main couple's children are also thoughtfully depicted in the script; the writing shows them to be dynamic yet shaped by a variety of external circumstances in their personal and familial lives. The acting is terrific across the board, as the main characters are able to clearly convey raw grit and anguish as their interpersonal relationships end up getting increasingly muddy and dysfunctional. All in all, this is a complex, smart and well-made look at the the impact of greed on our lives, as well as the intricacies that govern how we respond to each other during difficult and uncertain times. Despite all of these positive qualities, the third act is a bit underwhelming and fails to completely satisfy or pack the expected emotional wallop. Instead, it leaves us with a feeling that doesn't quite add up to the sum of its previous parts. As a result, the film is not a home run. Yet I do recommended it without hesitation to patient viewers who can appreciate challenging, slow-burn cinema. 7/10

Nicely played and it does have some interesting themes but it never makes the most of them, feeling dramatically inert for long periods. All of the tense scenes are in the trailer, the rest is a rather humdrum, if never quite boring, collection of family scenes. Saved from being a 5 by the final few reels.