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Where are you on Julia Roberts? Although she is not the worst actress to ever win an Oscar, she is hardly Meryl Streep. She has a narrow range and tends to overwork furiously when she is too deep: see her chewing her landscape in August: Osage County in front of the same Mrs. Streep. For Julia to be effective, the role must be perfectly correct, with a lot of courage and emotion but not too much fun: comedy is not her forte.
Over the years, the perfect roles have been few, but it could be one of them. In the moving drama of Peter Hedges, she plays Holly Burns, a busy housewife who takes her children home on Christmas Eve when she sees a figure standing in the driveway.
It's his 20-year-old son, Ben (Lucas Hedges, the director's son), and instantly everyone is comfortable.
Ben is struggling with addiction and, as the tragedy unfolds, we get an episodic glimpse of the damage caused by his habit. He spent an extended stay in a detox center, but badured his mother that his godfather had given him permission to go home for Christmas. Although Holly is delighted, not everyone is: her teenage sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) seems to have lost all self-confidence, and Holly's husband, Neal (Courtney B. Vance) is even less impressed.
Neal is the father-in-law of Ivy and Ben. Holly also has two young children, but her relationship with Ben is clearly tense. The money has disappeared, overdoses have been attempted and all the lower-inhabitants of the city have been dragged into their lives. While Holly wants to believe that Ben has changed, she naturally hides all her jewels and her money, and Neal does not really like the idea of an unhealthy convalescent addict convalescing around her children.
Ben seems to be getting better, but as he tries to help prepare the family for Christmas, his past is about to catch up with him. When they go to church, curious looks suggest that the community at large is well aware of Ben's struggles and Holly comforts a woman who cries at the sight of him. When they return home, they discover that the house has been robbed and that the family's dog has disappeared: all the suspicions point it to Ben and the pond scum to which he might owe the money .
Neal wants him to leave, but Ben is determined to find the dog and repair the damage, and goes off into the night. But he is clearly in danger and Holly decides to follow him.
Lucas Hedges is a good young actor and seems to specialize in the game of players. He managed to play an unhappy and recently orphaned teenager at Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea, and the last time we met him, he suffered the horrors of "gay conversion therapy" in Boy Erased.
His character here is also desperate, a smart and kind young man who does not seem to be able to go beyond the ugly path that his addiction has caused him.
He has the heartbreaking, fragile good-humor of the addict, who is desperately trying to prove to everyone that everything is fine, but can not be convinced. You feel that he is doing his best, but going home was clearly a mistake because he was not psychologically prepared for the ghosts he was facing. He goes to an AA meeting with his formidable mother and makes a statement so honest and almost childish that she would move a stone. But like all drug addicts, Ben is delicate, and just as Holly thinks she has reached the bottom of her problems, more problems arise.
Lucas Hedges is excellent in a role that demands a lot, and Courtney B. Vance is also good in a low-key role. Ben's problems will inevitably create a gap between his protective mother and a partner who is not his biological father, and Holly is opposed to Neal's hard love approach. Feeling that, Ben tells him "he hates me" but Holly has none: Neal, we'll find out, is the one who financed Ben's rehab.
For most of its length, Ben is Back takes a laudable and unenthusiastic approach to a problem that affects both the rich and the poor, and shows us the toxic side effects of dependence on the extended family. But in the end, Peter Hedges's film can not resist Hollywood's keen desire to find an elegant solution to a dilemma that requires love and work, not magic.
And what of Julia? She is at her best here, playing a ferocious and desperate mother determined to stay with her firstborn at all costs.
(15A, 103mins)
Also releasing this week:
As part of the Silver Lake Review: "A pretentious and aimless mess"
Girl's critique: "The girl is beautifully made: it's also an education & # 39;
What Men Want review: "It's not very funny, and only Taraji P Henson makes it bearable"
Independent Irish
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