Anyone from an older generation may recall a more innocent tone to kid’s sports than is found today. It is quite common, and should I say natural, for a parent to live vicariously through their children. Whether the parent was once good at sports or not, the child’s accomplishments are often taken as a commentary on the quality of all the parental genes that authored them. Secondly, it is an unstated obligation parents have to support their child. In some cases, we parents are not so good at recognizing proper boundaries to that support. Might that support include a public and vicious verbal undressing of “blue” even when the umpire is a kid? Does involvement include a boisterous pushing match with a parent from the other team?
A great name for this narrative feature, but perhaps the film could have just as accurately been titled No Boundaries. Laura (Vera Farmiga) is a divorced mother who is forced to drive her 85-year-old dad (Christopher Plummer) across the country so he can live with her sister. This duty is a major disruption since Jack has been kicked out of the nursing home for selling drugs. Along for the ride are a number of rescued pets—their loyalty and cuteness serve as a counterpoint to the flawed human characters.
A surprise hit at SXSW 2018; this film was expanded from the notable 2016 short created and performed by actor/director Jim Cummings. The short was a one-man show—13 minutes of monologue in one take. His character is Jimmy, a decorated police officer who is socially awkward (perhaps an understatement). Among festival viewers, there was speculation that the bizarre-but-poignant character’s rant at his mother’s funeral may not translate well into a feature-length story.
In a postmodern society enjoying the benefits of the sexual revolution, the roles played by a man and woman in a relationship is under intense scrutiny. Looking back, people in our culture tend to scoff at the stereotypical 1950s American wife who looked good in her dress and pearls as she made her man his favorite dinner. This couple is now replaced with the egalitarian version, with the male abandoning the hubris of the stereotypical husband who once disdained what was considered women’s work. Now the male can, and is expected to, do everything the housewife once did while the woman can do anything she wants to try. Meanwhile, no one takes the role romancer. The lover-beloved relationship begins as a one-sided pursuit—the lover is motivated to give by only the hope that the beloved will return the love.
No doubt. A Quiet Place is well written and acted—and directed. No doubt, the movie is a fantastic horror picture filled with plenty of seat-jumping moments. Yet the initial success among the pop-culture horror crowd may overshadow the deeper qualities of the film. Here I will focus on two of them.
It took a while, but I finally bit the bullet and jumped into an official paid membership with the Austin Film Society (AFS). I even went to my first screening, hosted by AFS founder Richard Linklater (the members all call him Rick). I am privileged to be in a town small enough for these close encounters, but large enough to attract and keep talent like Linklater, who is arguably at the top of the royal class of independent filmmakers these days.
