Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
Two pairs of parents gather together to discuss the events of a school shooting and the impact it has had on their lives.
I thought this film did the impossible, it took a very serious issue, that is ever more in need of discussing, and treated it with respect whilst also not making the film emotionally draining, depressing or hard to watch. There certainly were uncomfortable moments as befitted the subject matter, but these did not dominate the film and the wider narrative was one of understanding, grief and the human experience.
At the centre of the film are four very good character actors delivering four very good performances. I would be very hard picked to say who was the best or who stood out the most, Ann Dowd brought a level of devastation to the role that was hard to look away from whilst Jason Isaacs leads some very powerful monologues and rants, everyone was superb.
The thing that held the film back for me was the pacing of it, for the most part the film flows well, however there are a number of scenes that drag on for too long, furthermore towards the end of the film some of the scenes start feeling like filler to pad out the films runtime. This for me really hurt the film, as if it had been about fifteen to twenty minutes shorter it would have gotten much higher.
Overall, a strong film in many respects but one that could have benefited from a tighter pace.
Pros.
The emotion
The performances
The conversation created, had and left open
Maintaining an optimistic ending
Cons.
Pacing issues
Some of the scenes come off as pretentious or worse yet one the nose
If you enjoyed this review, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!
Another Millennial Reviewer 