Le point de rupture

Everyone who thinks Harvey can only inhabit violent, suffering Martin Scorcese type stories will be amazed at his affecting and emotional turn here, as a father struggling to raise his 2 daughters. Guilt and regret figure prominently in the plot line, which is narrated from a diary by the wonderful Fairuka Balk. Kelly Lynch gives a brief but sad performance as the mother. One of Kietel's best contains his usual trademark shouting scenes but overall: his least bloody and tortured character is also his finest time on film.

Harvey keitel is ray, single, gruff dad, trying to raise his two daughters. He's an inventor, but his inventions never seem to bring in any money. About twenty five minutes in, we hear three important rules, so i'm sure they will be important later. Maybe. Maybe not. And why does sonya have a scarf on her head for so much of the film? Confusing, since this is a period piece, from the early 1960s. Two possibilities. The trivia tells us that fairuza balk had to return for re-shoots, so her hair had changed. We also see that balk is named "turquoise" in farsi, so it could have something to do with her culture or beliefs. It's not explained in the film. It's mostly good. A story of family, loss, trying to hold together. Small roles for vincent d'onofrio, chris penn, and a twelve year old elisabeth moss! Directed by anthony drazan, for warner brothers. We also see short clips of a couple much older warner brothers movies. Chris penn was about thirty in this film, but died young at age 40. The author, sheila ballantyne, passed away in 2007, just about a week after her husband. It's pretty good. A family tries to hold it together, but the dad is so messed up, it's even more challenging for the daughters.

*One fairly minor spoiler ahead*

There's a very good story in here. I wouldn't doubt that the book is very good. However the screenplay, perhaps as well as the direction here really doesn't do the full story justice. Too much of the story is told from such an overly cynical and somewhat ignorant perspective of the older daughter by narration. Essentially this aspect alone robs the film of its overall effectiveness of being an entirely convincing film. Instead, much of the story the film tries to deliver through the narration, does not reasonably meet the actual story presented. So overall I have to say that while the film is decent, and does have a good story within it, this telling of it overall is not entirely effective enough. It's impossible to fully buy into, unless you care not to think about it much at all I suppose. I also have an issue with the part where child services takes the younger daughter away. If the oldest is 18, which she was, there should never be such a reason to do this. Unless there was some known reason why she could not care for the younger sister, which no reason of this is ever shown or even talked about at all in the film.

It really is too bad, because mostly I really enjoyed the story, and what the director and cast did here. Too bad the narration is not better written here to fit in better with the full story. It could've worked really well, and this would've been a really good little film, mainly if there were only less cynicism and narrowness of perspective in the narration.

5/10.

Being a big fan of Fairuza Balk's this movie done earlier in her career shows how talented she really is. It seems Fairuza is not a well known actress unless you mention The Craft or The Waterboy and people will say "oh her, she has done alot of movies?" Fairuza and Harvey Keitel play off one another so well as father and daughter. This movie is well written, well casted and well acted out. Sure there are a few boring parts but that goes with a drama type movie. Watch for a younger Amber Benson who is on Buffy The Vampire Slayer now as Tara. Also Vincent D'Onofrio plays a really good part as well. Crimes is a bit of a tear jerker and I have to say this movie Solidifies that Fairuza Balk is talented and that she deserves more credit than she gets. Christopher Penn has a small role in this as well. A few known faces in this one. But this sleeper hit is worth the time to rent. Chicks will like it for sure.

Follows the story of widowed father Ray Weiler (Harvey Kietel) trying to make it as a con artist in the 1950's. The story is told from the point of view of his daughter Sonya (Fairuza Balk) as she tries to struggle through her unenviable life while protecting her younger sister Greta (Elizabeth Moss) from their harsh environment. There's also the mandatory appearance by Vincent D'Onofrio, playing Sonya's English teacher who's actually more of a father to her than Ray ever was.

Balk and Kietel are great in this. Kietel did the slimy, overbearing father role better than I thought he would. Balk was also very good as his disillusioned daughter; they had good dad-kid chemistry, in a disfunctional sort of way. I thought the script and story were great, too. It was very real, like it could have been based on someone's memoirs. Balk's monologue right before the credits role is the perfect ending for this sort of story. A film worth renting.