An engaging, comic and dark tale of grief and depression, leading to self discovery and historical awareness. Wow, you say, all this in one film? In a series of flashbacks that seriously challenged the linear time requirements of the elderly couple in front of me in the theater (but was fine for everyone else), we are told the story of Oliver (Ewan McGregor) and his father Hal (Christopher Plummer) after Hal's death 6 months ago. Hal was a gay man that stayed faithfully married to Oliver's mother until her death four years prior. Then he embraced and explored his homosexuality until his death. Oliver is grieving his father, his mother, the life they lived and the truths about this life that were not actually what he thought. The flashbacks are excellently done as they reveal conversations between Hal and Oliver that reveal how enlightened Hal was. These flashbacks are then seemingly integrated into Oliver's belief system in the present as he begins to interact with a new girlfriend. So this may sound confusing, but in actuallity it is interesting and charming. We don't get stereotypes, or cliche answers for life's difficulties. Instead we get struggle, and the willingness to struggle, and the realization that it is continuous.
4 stars (out of 5)
No comments:
Post a Comment