Sibling Squabbles
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
9/25/2024—As the Northern Hemisphere's transitioned into autumn I’ll need to note to all present and future readers of Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark that my wife, Nina, and I have transitioned into our mid-70s which puts us in the autumn of our years too (winter’s a long way off we’re convinced), which means it’s now taking us longer to do our daily tasks so some changes are now necessary; for me that means putting more time into meals—shopping/preparation—as time management requires me to cut down on the weekly hours I’ve been devoting to this blog. There will still be postings on a weekly basis (most of the time), but the reviews will need to be considerably shorter, maybe with fewer Musical Metaphors if trying to figure out what to use becomes too much of a challenge. I’ll focus on successfully getting to the point in what I write, but extra details and tangents will have to be curtailed. (Damn!) Comments on this revised format are always welcomed.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
Various cultures of the Western world (maybe the East too, but I’m uninformed on that topic) have produced some marvelous theatrical/cinematic stories about the interpersonal interactions among 3 female siblings (sometimes with their father in their situations as well, like in this film [although here Dad's a minor presence until the very end, despite his seeming-prominence in the title])—including King Lear (William Shakespeare, c. 1603-1606), Three Sisters (Anton Chekhov, 1900), Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972), Crimes of the Heart (Bruce Beresford, 1986), Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)—with this latest narrative properly joining such distinguished company.
Set in contemporary NYC's Manhattan, the father in this case, Vincent (Jay O. Sanders), is dying of cancer in his highly-valued, rent-controlled apartment where he’s long been cared for by step-daughter Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), whose biological father was divorced from her mother when Rachel was very young so when Vincent married her mother (after his wife had given him 2 daughters, then died some years ago) he became the only Dad she’s ever known, leading to her willingly caring for him in his demise with the reward being she’ll inherit tenant-ship of this prize dwelling when he dies (soon, according to hospice caretaker Angel [Rudy Galvan], an interesting name given the circumstances here), a point of some concern for Rachel’s step-sisters, Katie (Carrie Coon), who seems to want to impose her will on everything around her—including insisting Rachel take her frequent pot-smoking outside, along with her anger Rachel didn’t insist Vincent sign a Do Not Resuscitate form when he was coherently-conscious more often—despite not visiting ailing Dad much even though she lives just across the city in Brooklyn, and Christina (Elizabeth Olsen), a bit more removed from the ongoing Katie-Rachel feud in that she lives far away with her own family. With her sisters now in the apartment, Rachel refuses to go into Dad’s room, spends most of her time obsessing over her online-betting addiction, while nursing the assumption Christina must be a drug addict because she took mushrooms when she was younger, continues as a Grateful Dead fan.
The tensions ratchet up when Rachel invites boyfriend Benjy (Jovan Adepo) over who tears into her siblings for the way they treat Rachel despite all she’s poured into Vincent’s situation, even notes Katie’s forgotten she previously met him a few months ago. Ultimately, there’s a big fight between Katie and Rachel, Christina intervenes but says she hates both of them, later apologizes even as a shaky peace immerges between the other 2, as they work together on Vincent’s obituary. ⇒The end scene is odd as Vincent regains consciousness, has his daughters move him to his favorite chair in the living room, from which he rises to tell them all how much he loves them until we realize he’s died, never got up from the chair so it’s unclear if this fantasy projection came from him or any/all of them, but at least the sisters are at peace with each other after his passing.⇐ If you have family situations where discord often erupts between/among siblings, this film may be difficult to watch (for me, as an only child, it was usefully-illuminating), but the end result is a fine collection of great acting, a sense of ongoing-action even within a confined environment, and powerful closeups on each sister, allowing us to better understand/feel what they’re experiencing while their days drag on.
If you’re interested in this film (I hope you are, despite it being mostly heavy drama, with a little bit of laughter added to occasionally lighten it up) you’ll possibly find it in a few domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters since its release on September 6, 2024, but it’s most readily-available on Netflix streaming, although you do have to subscribe ($6.99 monthly with ads, $15.49 without), which the CCAL actively encourages you to do, with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at a huge 98%, the Metacritic average score at 84% (notably high for them). With my strong encouragement to seek out this film, I’ll leave you with my usual wrap-up tactic of a Musical Metaphor (this week I was able to find several useful ones, can’t promise that every time), “We Are Family” from the Sister Sledge siblings—Debbie, Joni, Kim, Kathy—a hit from their 1979 album named for the song at https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyGY2NfYpeE (poor video, decent audio) where they’re able to project a family unity that the siblings in our film are often trying to achieve, at least some of the time.
SHORT TAKES
One aspect of my new-ish format is that whatever I put in Short Takes will truly be short, not containing official reviews, including mine. This time, my encouragement is finding/watching From Russia with Lev (Billy Corben), executive produced by popular MSNBC cable TV host Rachel Maddow, a documentary about Lev Parnas, born in Ukraine, raised in the U.S. since he was 4, an active contributor for most of his life to the policies of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and our very own Putin-acolyte, Donald Trump, including some follow-ups to Trump’s so-called “perfect” phone call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a “quid pro quo” (denied of course by Trump) of trading American weapons for that European’s country’s actions to find political dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden, a situation leading to Trump’s first impeachment (found not guilty by the large Republican presence in the U.S. Senate) and Lev given jail time for related-infractions, leading to his current denunciation of Trump and a heartfelt scene of reconciliation between Lev and Hunter Biden. As indicated by this trailer much of this doc is directly narrated by Lev (and wife Svetlana Parnas) so you get the inside story first-hand—but if you want to see the whole thing, that’s difficult. It’s been shown on MSNBC a bit recently, even had some public showing in various U.S. cities, but so far it’s not readily available, nor has it been reviewed much with only 1 citation (positive) in Rotten Tomatoes, nothing in Metacritic, but if you can catch it you’ll find it be very informative, although rather packed with facts within its 2-hour running time (notably less, though, because the MSNBC showings are frequently interrupted by ads). I guess you could just listen to The Beatles” “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (1968 “White Album”) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhanYixwfSU (or just Paul McCartney in Moscow in 2003) because, despite the song’s intention as a big joke, that seems to be what Lev was all about in helping revive the Soviet era until he came to have a different understanding of the motives of those cretins (including Rudy Giuliani) he spent too much time with.
And one other thing I’d like to do this week—representing a type of diversion I may well call on somewhat frequently in the future as circumstances arise—is offer an alternative to all of the misery currently going on in our world regarding brutal wars, disgusting political actions, constant murders, etc. by encouraging you to listen to this peaceful song, "Boy From the Country," by Michael Martin Murphey (on his 1972 album Geronimo’s Cadillac, back when he wasn’t using his middle name), a song that got even better recognition from a version by John Denver. Seemingly, it’s about—or at least inspired by—Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), namesake of the current Pope, a laidback tune that might help turn down the temperature of our troubled times, at least for a bit as you hear it.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Some options for your invested consideration: (1) IMDb's 5 Things to Watch this week; (2) IMDb's Best of Fall 2024 TV and streaming; and (3) Theater owners to spend $2.2 billion on upgrades.
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