No Shawn Mullins here, just a dip into the well that the Divine Miss C has dug for me. This was one of the earlier recommendations Miss Cleo imparted to me, but I just haven’t been able to get around to it ’til now.
The story here is a simple one: The patriarch of a Jewish family, currently in the hospital for yet another round of cancer treatment, decides he wants to let go and shuffle himself off this here mortal coil. His family comes to grips with this decision and finds the strength to come together and share his last moments. Like I said, pretty simple, plotwise.
What sounds like a modern chamber piece is handled fantastically by a more-than-accomplished cast, which, frankly, is the primary reason this movie did anything for me: Richard Jenkins nails the dying father (…poor phrasing…), Jennifer Hudson is downright hilarious as a no-shits-giving nurse, Anne Archer is delightful as the matriarch (and it’s great to see her recently without the Gang from Philly as a backdrop), Jessica Brown Findlay shows she needs to have more roles tossed her way, Jessica Barden strums some heartstrings as a young bone cancer patient (the seeds of the germinated solid performance as Liddy in Far from the Madding Crowd). (Hell, even the girl who plays the younger incarnation of Ms. Findlay has an impressive resume that includes The Conjuring, No Escape, and Dark Places.) We see all of them come to terms with the inevitable in their own ways, culminating in an outpouring of grief and love in the final act.
The centerpiece, though, is the relationship between father and son, the latter ably portrayed by pirate-accent-less Garrett Hedlund. This isn’t your usual Daddy-wasn’t-around-enough sort of thing, as per normal Hollywood standards, but rather a fairly attentive father and a slightly rebellious son. How does Hedlund voir dire his father to ensure mental solidity? He asks about 2003’s ALCS Game 7, to which Jenkins eventually replies “Aaron. Fucking. Boone.” (All of Boston’s sentiments exactly.) Classic.
From that point on, Hedlund is forced to quickly mature emotionally while his father declines. He is charmed by the aforementioned bone cancer patient, eventually helping her realize a form of her wish to attend prom. He runs into an old flame and finds a new connection with her (hard not to when it’s Amy Adams). He also opens up to his semi-estranged mother and sister. But it’s with his father that he really connects with, to the point that he spills his guts to him and finally allows him to let himself go. It’s actually quite touching, even for someone whose veins carry ice water pumped by a cardiac organ of dolomite on most days.
Once again, Miss Cleo finds away to throw some feels at me, likely to watch me squirm with them. But, hey, I guess we all need some feels in our lives at various points, don’t we?
Allusions of Grandeur 