CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Directed by Matt Ross
Screenplay by Matt Ross
Starring Viggo Mortensen and George Mackay
Viggo Mortensen plays Ben who is raising his six children out in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. He stresses rigorous physical and and intellectual education. Things change when he has to leave his wilderness home to take a trip into the world.
I watched this film weeks ago....and to be honest I wanted to sleep on it for a bit. I could not ...well... it is odd. There are negatives but I cannot figure out if they are negatives in my head or that is just the way the film was leaning.
The film is well acted. Every one of the six children are amazing while handling heavy subjects often. Plus they are very funny spitting out their lines with spot on timing.
Still this film has two fantastic performance:
Viggo Mortensen as Ben...is part spiritual and part just crazy. As he often does, he lives, he owns the characters he plays. So there is no surprise how good he is in this Oscar worthy performance.
George McKay as Bo the oldest son. Just wonderful playing tug of war with the life he has now and the life he feels is out there waiting for him. As the film moves on you feel like maybe the film is about him.
As for the script and look:
Well the look is beautiful as you can imagine.
Now the script is what gives me pause.
I walked away thinking, I understand what Ben is doing with his family, and I kind of understand (No Spoilers Here As Usual) what he is doing, as the film moves on you understand that he is a good father, but at the same time he has them doing dangerous and odd things that makes him a bad father. He almost steps on his own feet. He comes across as a bit crazy, and the ending seems simplified. I have trouble believing the changes came by so easy, and that makes the film seem to finish with a quiet thud, or maybe there is a time span where things changed not showed. Or maybe I am overthinking this film.
Another maybe.....Maybe the point is to get us the viewers to think about how our lives are complicated and maybe we bring that on ourselves.
4 out of 5 stars for a well acted film. An interesting story that will definitely have you thinking afterwards. This was a hard review to do because of my no spoilers review, so I apologize for it being choppy and sporadic. What I can tell you is, it is a good road trip film and for those who followed my blog from the beginning know that I am a sucker for road trip films!!!!!!!!!!!
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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