Directed by Alma Har'el Honey Boy feels like a rough draft, and maybe, based on the intensely personal story, it was always going to be. It's the story about a child actor whose father's abuse gives him PTSD. That actor, Otis, is a stand in for Shia LaBeouf who plays Otis' father, in a very … Continue reading Honey Boy (2019)
trauma
Every Thing Will Be Fine (2015)
Directed by Wim Wenders Every Thing Will Be Fine is a melodrama that keeps you at arm's distance. Told over the course of a decade it tells the struggle of a man, woman and child after a fatal accident. He, Tomas (James Franco) was the driver of a car that hit one of two young … Continue reading Every Thing Will Be Fine (2015)
Destroyer (2018)
Directed by Karyn Kusama Destroyer is one of those films about a broken character whose present day storyline runs parallel to a recollection of a past storyline that broke said character. Both stories reach their climax at the same time so that, in a sense, the trauma of the past directly affects the present. Another … Continue reading Destroyer (2018)
Midsommar (2019)
Directed by Ari Aster The most horrifying moment in Midsommar might be in the prologue. It at least has the most dread in the film, a sequence that like most horror films is dark, moody and tense. The rest of the film takes place in the often bright, sometimes purposefully overexposed and all around pleasant … Continue reading Midsommar (2019)
Ordinary People (1980)
Directed by Robert Redford Robert Redford's first film as a director is a doozy. Ordinary People chronicles the struggle of a family to relate to each other and to themselves following the death of a teenaged son. The people left reeling in his wake are parents Beth and Calvin (Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland) and young … Continue reading Ordinary People (1980)
Lean on Pete (2018)
Directed by Andrew Haigh Lean On Pete sets up a certain sentimentality only to tear it down in abrupt, stark ways. You think you know where the movie is headed, but then it takes a sudden detour that feels surprising at first but overall in line with the movie's unexpected tone. It's like watching a Disney … Continue reading Lean on Pete (2018)
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Directed by Adrian Lyne Jacob's Ladder depicts a Vietnam veteran's schizophrenia, to put it simply. We live in Jacob's (Tim Robbins) head and are privy to the nightmares he sees but which no one else believes. His story will bounce around between reality, nightmare, and flashback so often that you forget which is which. In … Continue reading Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
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