WHAT THEY HAD Blythe Danner and Hilary Swank star as Ruth and Bridget Keller in WHAT THEY HAD, a Bleecker Street release. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street
In the family drama What They Had, two siblings (Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon) face their mom (Blythe Danner) sinking into Alzheimer’s, and their father (Robert Forster) refusing to take action. To heighten the pressure, the out-of-town daughter wants to give the old folks more slack than does the local son. He’s been dealing with this situation up close, and he’s fed up. The dad is used to always being in charge, and he doesn’t cope well with needing help.
Despite the subject, What They Had is not a depressing movie, mostly because of the sunniness of Danner’s character. This is a character-driven story that benefits from this stellar cast. This is the first feature for writer/director Elizabeth Chomko, and she delivers an authentic and well-crafted story.
WHAT THEY HAD Blythe Danner and Hilary Swank star as Ruth and Bridget Keller in WHAT THEY HAD, a Bleecker Street release. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street
In the family drama What They Had, two siblings (Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon) face their mom (Blythe Danner) sinking into Alzheimer’s, and their father (Robert Forster) refusing to take action. To heighten the pressure, the out-of-town daughter wants to give the old folks more slack than does the local son. He’s been dealing with this situation up close, and he’s fed up. The dad is used to always being in charge, and he doesn’t cope well with needing help.
Despite the subject, What They Had is not a depressing movie, mostly because of the sunniness of Danner’s character. This is a character-driven story that benefits from this stellar cast. This is the first feature for writer/director Elizabeth Chomko, and she delivers an authentic and well-crafted story.
I saw What They Had at Cinequest. An October 18, 2018 release is planned. Here’s a clip.
Sam Elliiott and Blythe Danner in I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
The gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams is centered on 72-year-old Carol (Blythe Danner), a widow of 21 years living a life of benign routine. Every day, she rises at 6 AM in her modest but nicely appointed LA house, reads by the pool, hosts her gal pals from the nearby retirement community for cards and is in bed by 11 PM to watch TV with her elderly canine companion. It’s not a bad life, but it’s an unadventuresome one.
Then some things happen that give her an opportunity to choose to take some chances. In short order, she has to put down her dog and deal with an unwelcome rodent. Her friends (Rhea Perlman, June Squibb and Mary Kay Place) suggest that she try speed dating. She opens her social life, developing a friendship with a much younger man (Martin Starr – Gilfoyle in Silicon Valley) and being courted by a dashing man of her own age (Sam Elliott).
What happens is sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always authentic. This is NOT a formulaic geezer comedy, but a story about venturing outside one’s comfort zone – with all the attendant vulnerability – to seek some life rewards. Carol may be 72, but she is still at a place in her life where she can grow and be challenged. I’ll See You in My Dreams proves that coming of age films are not just for the young.
I saw I’ll See You in My Dreams at the Camera Cinema Club, at which director, editor and co-writer Brett Haley was interviewed. Haley said that he and co-writer Marc Basch wanted to “avoid the obvious joke of older people doing what younger people do”. Instead, they intended to make a movie “about love, loss and that you can’t get through life unscathed – and that’s okay”. Haley and Basch certainly succeeded in creating a film about “living life without the fear of loss”.
Danner sparkles in the role (and gets to nail a karaoke rendition of Cry Me a River). Always special when playing solid-valued but rascally guys, Elliott still retains his magnetism.
We don’t often get to see realistic movies about people in their early 70s, but I’ll See You in My Dreams respects its protagonist Carol by putting her in plausible situations. Neither farcical nor mawkish, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a surefire audience pleaser.
I’ll See You in My Dreams is available to stream from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Sam Elliiott and Blythe Danner in I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
The gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams is centered on 72-year-old Carol (Blythe Danner), a widow of 21 years living a life of benign routine. Every day, she rises at 6 AM in her modest but nicely appointed LA house, reads by the pool, hosts her gal pals from the nearby retirement community for cards and is in bed by 11 PM to watch TV with her elderly canine companion. It’s not a bad life, but it’s an unadventuresome one.
Then some things happen that give her an opportunity to choose to take some chances. In short order, she has to put down her dog and deal with an unwelcome rodent. Her friends (Rhea Perlman, June Squibb and Mary Kay Place) suggest that she try speed dating. She opens her social life, developing a friendship with a much younger man (Martin Starr – Gilfoyle in Silicon Valley) and being courted by a dashing man of her own age (Sam Elliott).
What happens is sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always authentic. This is NOT a formulaic geezer comedy, but a story about venturing outside one’s comfort zone – with all the attendant vulnerability – to seek some life rewards. Carol may be 72, but she is still at a place in her life where she can grow and be challenged. I’ll See You in My Dreams proves that coming of age films are not just for the young.
I saw I’ll See You in My Dreams at the Camera Cinema Club, at which director, editor and co-writer Brett Haley was interviewed. Haley said that he and co-writer Marc Basch wanted to “avoid the obvious joke of older people doing what younger people do”. Instead, they intended to make a movie “about love, loss and that you can’t get through life unscathed – and that’s okay”. Haley and Basch certainly succeeded in creating a film about “living life without the fear of loss”.
Danner sparkles in the role (and gets to nail a karaoke rendition of Cry Me a River). Always special when playing solid-valued but rascally guys, Elliott still retains his magnetism.
We don’t often get to see realistic movies about people in their early 70s, but I’ll See You in My Dreams respects its protagonist Carol by putting her in plausible situations. Neither farcical nor mawkish, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a surefire audience pleaser. Now playing in New York and Los Angeles, I’ll See You in My Dreams opens this coming weekend in San Francisco and May 29 in San Jose.
My DVD pick this week is the gripping drama Detachment, with Adrien Brody’s best performance since winning an Oscar for The Pianist. Detachment is on my list of Best Movies of 2012 – So Far.
Detachment is a gripping drama about the failure of American public schools from the teachers’ point of view. Adrien Brody plays a long-term sub on a 60-day assignment at a high school that has burned out virtually every other teacher. I can’t use the words “grim” or “bleak” to describe this school environment – it’s downright hellish. It’s making their very souls decay.
The students are rebellious and disrespectful, and somehow manage to be zealously apathetic. No parents support the teachers, but some enthusiastically abuse and undermine them. Administrators demand better test results but offer little support beyond “flavor of the month” educational fads. The ills of the high school in Detachment are exaggerated – this is not a documentary – but there isn’t an urban public high school in American that hasn’t endured some elements of Detachment.
Brody won an Oscar for 2002’s The Pianist, and, in Detachment, he makes the most of his best role since. Brody plays a haunted and damaged man with strong core beliefs, who, faced with a menu of almost hopeless choices, picks his battles.
Detachment’s cast is unusually deep, and the performances are outstanding. James Caan is particularly outstanding as the veteran educator whose wicked sense of humor can still disarm the most obnoxiously insolent teen. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) is excellent as the young teacher hanging on to some idealism. Blythe Danner and William Petersen (CSI) are the veterans who have seen it all. Lucy Liu plays the educator who is clinging by her fingerprints, trying not to flame out like the basket case played by Tim Blake Nelson. Marcia Gay Harden and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Cedar Rapids) are dueling administrators. Sami Gayle and Betty Kaye are superb as two troubled kids. Louis Zorich delivers a fine performance as Brody’s failing grandfather. There’s just not an ordinary performance in the movie.
For all its despair, Detachment doesn’t let the audience sink into a malaise. Director Tony Kaye (American History X) keeps thing moving, and his choices in structure and pacing work well. This is an intense film with a dark viewpoint. It is also a very ambitious, thoughtful and originally crafted movie – one well worth seeing.
Detachment is a gripping drama about the failure of American public schools from the teachers’ point of view. Adrien Brody plays a long-term sub on a 60-day assignment at a high school that has burned out virtually every other teacher. I can’t use the words “grim” or “bleak” to describe this school environment – it’s downright hellish. It’s making their very souls decay.
The students are rebellious and disrespectful, and somehow manage to be zealously apathetic. No parents support the teachers, but some enthusiastically abuse and undermine them. Administrators demand better test results but offer little support beyond “flavor of the month” educational fads. The ills of the high school in Detachment are exaggerated – this is not a documentary – but there isn’t an urban public high school in American that hasn’t endured some elements of Detachment.
Brody won an Oscar for 2002’s The Pianist, and, in Detachment, he makes the most of his best role since. Brody plays a haunted and damaged man with strong core beliefs, who, faced with a menu of almost hopeless choices, picks his battles.
Detachment’s cast is unusually deep, and the performances are outstanding. James Caan is particularly outstanding as the veteran educator whose wicked sense of humor can still disarm the most obnoxiously insolent teen. Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) is excellent as the young teacher hanging on to some idealism. Blythe Danner and William Petersen (CSI) are the veterans who have seen it all. Lucy Liu plays the educator who is clinging by her fingerprints, trying not to flame out like the basket case played by Tim Blake Nelson. Marcia Gay Harden and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Cedar Rapids) are dueling administrators. Sami Gayle and Betty Kaye are superb as two troubled kids. Louis Zorich delivers a fine performance as Brody’s failing grandfather. There’s just not an ordinary performance in the movie.
For all its despair, Detachment doesn’t let the audience sink into a malaise. Director Tony Kaye (American History X) keeps thing moving, and his choices in structure and pacing work well. This is an intense film with a dark viewpoint. It is also a very ambitious, thoughtful and originally crafted movie – one well worth seeing.
