Plot: A teenage boy has to deal with his mother's complicated response to her husband temporarily abandoning them for a dangerous job.

The people involved was more than enough for me to check this out. Not only did it have the brilliant Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, it also has the directorial debut for Paul Dano, who himself is a very talented actor.


Early on, you could tell this is going to be a slow film. Now while I'm fine with slow-burners, there are times when I'm just not in the right mood for these types of films.
But luckily, the strength big the early character and story development had me along for the ride.
I was appreciating the authentic 1960's look and my enjoyment of the film kept growing as I noticed many noticeable striking imagery.
About halfway in, I was totally into the film and totally invested right up to the very satisfying third act.
Then the icing on the cake was a super-sweet final scene. From what I've heard about this final shot, this is the moment that director Dano saw in his head that inspired him to create this film. Now that I've seen it, I can totally see why Dano felt inspired.


The performances by our three main characters for me was what made this film great instead of good.
Despite having two major actors, it was youngster Ed Oxenbould that stood-out for me. While the chaos is happening around him, the innocence he portrays and the coming-of-age story arch he is given was the most engaging bpartbof the film.
As for Mulligan and Gyllenhaal, they were both really as good as expected. Mulligan gets a lot of screen-time and does a good job at showing us a troubled character that is at a major crossroads in her life.
As for Gyllenhaal, it's nothing to shout about. But his contribution was still essential and fully capitalised.
It was a shame that they did not habe many scenes together. But when they had, it was great to watch. You could feel each of their struggles and it reflected many areas of America during that time.


I also have to commend the overall look of the film. The cinematography was strong. I liked how many wide shots there were that embraced the vast landscape, whilst also reminding about this small story right in the middle of it with some frequent intimate close-ups.
Another strong aspect from the technical side was the authenticity of the 1960 setting. With the help of the location not changing its architecture for many decades, the addition of the classic cars and amazing costumes and hairstyles, you had instantly transported back five decades.


Surprisingly, I had no problems with it from a film-making perspective. However, the type of story and the pacing of it won't give it strong re-watchability for me.


Yes, it moves at a slow and gentle place and a lot of dialogue is softly spoken. But I think if you get into the story and tone, then this will be rewarding viewing.
The story is very well told, the turns our characters make was great to watch, it's shot beautifully and the period setting and sensibilities were on point.
It's certainly not a 'showy' film. But I feel the strength in the performances and writing elevated this small-looking story into a gripping and moving drama.


Rating: 8/10