The first half of the film is actually very slow and peaceful and requires patience, but the second half is heartbreaking, especially the last shot at the end, which eventually brought me to tears. In fact, this is a very small film with few characters in total, and it tells the struggle of a very ordinary working family in the United States, but it represents thousands of broken families. For the children in these families, there may be many reasons for their parents to get married, but the end result is that the family that once gave him/her a sense of love and security no longer exists, leaving an irreparable rift.
At first I saw the stills and posters and thought that the protagonists were the couple starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, but in fact this film is told from the perspective of the couple's son. Through his eyes, the audience witnesses a family coming to the brink of shattering. There are economic reasons as well as personal reasons. It is difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong in this film, but the final ending, we can all see from the boy's eyes, is full of disappointment and helplessness. A long-lost family photo, even if it is taken, has long lost the meaning of home.
Ed Oxenbould, who played his son, is actually very similar in temperament to the director himself, Paul Dano. They are both shy and reserved and dull, but they show their inner feelings very well. . Carey Mulligan's performance was stunning, as the audience watched the housewife go from a happy face to despair. Even though some choices of this role may not be agreed by the audience, her performance also makes this choice understandable, and she clearly sees the entanglement and contradiction in her heart, and even her eyes reveal disappointment with reality. Jake Gyllenhaal has very few scenes, and the film shows more about the change in thinking of the mother and daughter in the face of the helplessness of life.
Although the film is set during the Great Depression of the American economy, people can vaguely feel that the crisis of this family is still caused by the gap between the main harsh reality and the inner longing. Both husband and wife are very dissatisfied with their existing life. In order to realize their self-worth and get a better life, they would rather give up their existing family. For their son, his parents and family are the most important things to him because he has not yet experienced financial stress.
As Paul Dano's debut novel, it truly expresses the inner activities of a young man, which is quite delicate and moving. For me, the pace is a bit slower, and the background is a relatively desolate town, and I can't help but shake my head as the film progresses, wondering: When will the climax come? Fortunately, when the climax came, it did not disappoint.
(Toronto Film Festival viewing)
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