How entertaining? ★★★★★
Thought provoking? ★★★☆☆ 5 February 2016
A movie review of THE DAUGHTER. |
YouTube review:
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“Put that thing out of its misery, would you Peterson?” Henry (Geoffrey Rush)
The first line of dialogue will be wretchedly prescient. Similar to television show ‘Breaking Bad’, THE DAUGHTER’s myriad of tragedies is a complicated array of cause and effect. Where does blame begin? The emotional hollowing out of the cast and audience is all the more remarkable considering this is the cinematic feature debut for writer-director Simon Stone. Not one, but seven leads circle each other, without of course sensing the dread washing over the audience. Days away from a wedding in an Australian idyll would probably have been a (romantic-) comedy in less talented hands. This is RACHEL GETTING MARRIED dialled up, if you thought that was possible.
The first line of dialogue will be wretchedly prescient. Similar to television show ‘Breaking Bad’, THE DAUGHTER’s myriad of tragedies is a complicated array of cause and effect. Where does blame begin? The emotional hollowing out of the cast and audience is all the more remarkable considering this is the cinematic feature debut for writer-director Simon Stone. Not one, but seven leads circle each other, without of course sensing the dread washing over the audience. Days away from a wedding in an Australian idyll would probably have been a (romantic-) comedy in less talented hands. This is RACHEL GETTING MARRIED dialled up, if you thought that was possible.
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Like the best family dramas, in any medium – cinema/theatre/television/literature, the thrill and anxiety emanates from the secrets and lies, and the perfect timing in their revelations for maximum impact. THE DAUGHER is in direct competition with 45 YEARS for the 2015 crown. Soap operas revel in the hysterical and the outré, and provide distance for schadenfreude entertainment or cathartic consolation. The highbrow end of the spectrum, however, maroons the spectator in something more real and disconcerting, no balm proffered. THE DAUGHTER is AUGUST, OSAGE COUNTRY with the histrionics dialled down.
The town’s main source of employment, the logging mill, is to close. Poor management or bad luck or both are seemingly to blame. In Henry’s family for 100 years, when the music stopped it was under his watch. No sooner the announcement, the population exodus begins, eviscerating the community. Wealthy and about to marry a much younger woman, the beautiful Anna (Anna Torv), his housekeeper, Henry still exudes a morose demeanour. Dead business does not appear the cause. By the end of the film the weight sitting on his conscience will be apparent, but even then only the audience will have the full picture.
Get ready for subverting expectations and the commonplace, while also allowing us to guess a pivotal backstory point so that our guts twist in anticipation. Combining the two wows. Resentment is the narrative disease that spreads contagiously, eating up the characters. How much dramatic regret can an audience take? The failure of imagination on display is something out of classical, tragic storytelling.
"One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off," said Chekhov. Superbly calibrated drama.
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