I join the CTV NewsChanel to talk about the Lucy Liu heartbreaker “Rosemead,” the historical drama “The Choral” and the family dynamics of “Father Mother Sister Brother” and the feelgood divorce movie “Is This Thing On?”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the Lucy Liu heartbreaker “Rosemead,” the historical drama “The Choral” and the family dynamics of “Father Mother Sister Brother.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “Father Mother Sister Brother,” a new anthology film directed by Jim Jarmusch starring Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett, and now playing in theatres, is a tryptic of stories about awkward family relationships in the United States, Ireland and France.
CAST: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.
REVIEW: Three stories united by the theme of family dynamics, “Father Mother Sister Brother” is a quiet, well-observed portmanteau centered around the mysterious nature of the connection between parent and child and family secrets.
In the film’s opening segment, “Father,” siblings Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) travel to the rural Northeast U.S. to visit their estranged father (Tom Waits). Concerned about his finances since the death of their mother, Jeff brings along an expensive box of groceries, but unanswered questions arise when Emily notices her father is wearing an expensive Rolex watch. “You’ve always been my favorite son,” father says to Jeff. “Well, I’m you’re only son.”
In “Mother,” the film’s second story, sisters Lilith (Vicky Krieps) and Timothea (Cate Blanchett) make their annual pilgrimage to spend an afternoon with their secretive novelist mother (Charlotte Rampling). An undercurrent of tension silently hangs over their visit as the sisters compete for their mother’s attention as many secrets are left unsaid. “I’m very happy to see you on one hand,” says mother, “ but I have to keep you from stirring things up.”
The movie wraps with the Paris-set “Sister Brother.” Adult twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) confront the fragility of life when they return to their parent’s apartment in the aftermath of a family tragedy. “Each moment is each moment,” says Billy.
Quiet, melancholy and tinged with a bittersweet quality, “Father Mother Sister Brother” is a film where the things left unsaid are as important as the things the characters say.
It isn’t conventional drama. Conflicts exist but are put on simmer as writer and director Jim Jarmusch leaves space around the characters and situations, so the stories breathe. It allows the audience to be present, to catch the nuances of the terrific performances from Driver, Waits, Blanchett, and Rampling. The subtle slights, the gentle comedy and embrace of the mundane are seemingly unassuming but sharpened to a fine point in the hands of these actors who understand the exceptional ordinariness of the film’s situations.
What “Father Mother Sister Brother” lacks in fireworks, it makes up for in introspection. It may be too slow for viewers expecting family drama writ large, but the various awkward interactions on display will certainly ring bells for many theatre goers.
Frank and provocative, “Sharp Stick,” the new film written and directed by “Girls” creator and star Lena Dunham, returns to familiar ground with a sexual coming-of-age story.
Kristine Froseth stars as 26-year-old Sarah Jo. A sexually inexperienced woman who had a hysterectomy at age 17, she still lives at home with her mom (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and wannabe Instagram influencer sister (Taylour Paige). She scraps by, babysitting for Zach, son of Josh (Jon Bernthal) and Heather (Dunham). Heather is pregnant, and Josh has a wandering eye, which happens to land on the flirty Sarah Jo.
Their ”affair” culminates with a tryst on the floor of a cramped laundry room, setting Sarah Jo off on a journey of sexual discovery involving lots of pornography, a fixation on adult film star Vance Leroy (the ornately tattooed Scott Speedman) and carefully organized, random “educational” hook-ups.
“Sharp Stick” reverberates with echoes of the frankness of “Girls” and the edgy work of filmmakers like Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, but never rises to the level of any of those namechecks.
Dunham has woven some interesting characters to surround Sarah Jo, like her mother Marilyn, played by Leigh, a much-divorced Hollywood hanger-on and twerking sister Treina, but she hasn’t given her main character any real depth. She is thirsty for carnal knowledge, and approaches it like a job, with a check list to boot, but aside from the humor inherent in that, Sarah Jo’s arc simply isn’t that interesting. Her desperation to prove to herself and others is repetitive, her actions so naïve they suggest her emotional age is far less than her stated age of 26. Given her mother’s openness regarding sex, it doesn’t ring true that Sarah Jo is completely unfamiliar with anything to do with sexuality.
“Sharp Stick” does have a few funny scenes, an interesting character or three, and an uncomfortable but refreshing candidness about sex but, by the time the end credits roll, Sarah Jo’s journey is the film’s least interesting element.
