“Did some rearranging and prioritizing of my movie schedule this weekend so I could get this indie in. Basically I just decided to hold off on Trainwreck until I’m in Chicago next weekend, so I can go with my buddy. But yeah, this one really held my attention, without even having seen a trailer for it.
Mark Ruffalo stars as a father of two girls who has been battling mental illness. Soon after he’s recovered from a breakdown, his wife (played by Zoe Saldana) decides to go to business school, leaving him to raise the girls by himself. We follow the family thru the ups and downs of that arrangement. Bonus points for the Boston area setting.
Ruffalo was incredible. This is easily some of his best work, and it’s a shame that this is likely to remain underseen. And those girls, newcomers Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Aufderheide, were fantastic. They weren’t just there to be cute or to be glorified set pieces. They had personality and attitude and were able to not only hold their own against but at times overpower veteran actor Ruffalo.
This film just felt very real to me. It’s not really a subject matter I have much experience with, but I feel like someone who had lived thru their own similar battles would have appreciated this film. I certainly feel like I learned a lot, and gained some insight into otherwise foreign territory, while at the same time simply enjoying the film experience. So if you need a break from the big budget summer movies, know that this is there as an option.
Infinitely Polar Bear – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/”