Raising Flagg

I will get down to it. This movie was another average film that Hollywood has made.

It focuses around a man and his lifelong struggle with his neighbor; pretty random plot.

Another thing that was uninteresting is how long the film felt, regarding some scenes, which just seemed to go on and on and on, really giving me a yawn.

Somehow In knew this was only inevitable with Neal Miller taking the director's seat. My rating out of ten of this film is a five, because even tedious it can be a little funny.

I really enjoyed this movie. It is a very heart warming family story that is both drama and comedy. Excellent acting by the entire cast including "Cubby" the dog.

This is a most unusual art film. It is not for kids, eager for action and gore, nor is it a chick flick, although there are overtones of such sentiment. It's a believable film, beautifully filmed in Oregon, about a stubborn old man whose pride, eccentricity, and self-pity shake up his family and his small town. The movie is billed as a comedy, but there are few laughs. The genius of the film is in its acting and photography. Arkin is just one of the superb actors who make matters almost look like reality television. The shots of rural and small town Oregon (north of Portland along the Columbia) are memorable. The story begins slowly (after 20 minutes I couldn't make out what was going on) and then, in due course, reveals the dimensions of the plot. How could such a distinguished film be made in this era of crass pandering to the majority? I'm sure that it lost money. (Filmed in 2003, it was released three years later.) But serious students of film do not want to miss this little gem.

This is an independent film, not a Hollywood film. I recently had a chance to see it at the TriMedia Film Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's a slow film, and slightly quirky, as is common in many independent films, but the characters are fairly well-developed characters and well-acted for the most part. As such, this is a character-driven film.

While the central plot element is the conflict between Flagg Purdy (Alan Arkin) and his lifelong friend and neighbor, Gus Falk (Austin Pendleton), the story is really about Flagg's family and forgiveness. Flagg is a stubborn, prideful man who is hard to get along with. Yet, members of his family come to visit at his request, even if reluctantly. Throughout the film, the actors effectively convey the strained relationships within the family, and much of the story is watching the interactions play out between them. In the end, there isn't so much resolution as there is progress, and a degree of hope.

When Flagg become sick and the family trickled in to pay their respects.

A real shame.

---------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Deliberately botched (for the "it's so bad it's good" crowd) 2 I don't want to see it 3 I didn't finish and or FF'd through it 4 Bad 5 I don't get it 6 Good 7 Great but with a major flaw 8 Great 9 Noir with moral 10 Inspiring with moral.