This film seems like it flew under the radar. Perhaps that will change if it sneaks in for an Oscar nom or two.
I thought it was simple but quite effective. The dialogue seemed grounded, as did the movement of the plot. It felt a little low budget in places - the titles being in Times New Roman, the cinematography seemed a little soft, or awkward. But the actors really sold it - kind of hard to pull a movie like this off without a super talented cast.
Probably could have been 10-15 minutes shorter, I don't know that we needed the longish intro with the very awkward staff member and her bumbling assistant. I guess it helped sort of relieve some of the tension when we saw them again at the end, but I don't know if that really added that much.
What did everyone think?
Apparently most people think Dowd is easily the best one but Plimpton's performance was way more touching and raw to me. Sadly she's not getting any awards attention :/
This is the debut film from actor turned writer/director Fran Kranz, and it’s a really solid piece of work. It’s about a meeting between the parents of a murder victim and the parents of the killer, 6 years after.
At times it feels like it would be better as a stage play, and the first 15 minutes is kind of unnecessary, but the writing and performances are terrific. Everyone’s going to have their favorite (Oscar pundits are talking about Dowd, I loved Isaacs & Plimpton). This type of movie is the best justification for why there should be an Ensemble category.
The most likely awards scenario is that this peaks with the Spirit Awards and Gothams, but it’s definitely worth your time and if you have a chance to support a small film on its first weekend…do that!
I think we’ll be seeing more from Fran Kranz.
So last night I was watching the Lincoln Center performance of South Pacific and in the song “My Girl Back Home” Lt. Cable says
“And I was told by my uncle and dad that if I was clever and able they'd make me a part of a partnership Cable, Cable and Cable”
It could be just a coincidence, but with how clever the writing team is and how much musicals and specifically South Pacific influenced Rebecca’s life it seems like a fun little reference.
Like many I'm doing a rewatch of TWW when my ears perked up during this episode. Joe Qunicy mentions his back up job is at Debevoise & Plimpton and Josh says that was his father's firm.
I guess I didn't notice it before because this is my first rewatch as a lawyer myself but I was floored they would use a real-life firm like that when in previous episodes they used fictional firm's like Gage Whitney.
Was there a writer who wanted that dropped in? Does anyone know what the deal there was? It seems very un-Sorkin to use a real firm name instead of creating something for the Sorkinverse (as he did with Gage Whitney when it came up again in Molly's Game).
