The Father

Director: Florian Zeller
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss
Running Time: 97 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Florian Zeller's The Father employs a brilliant narrative device in conveying the anguish and confusion that accompanies dementia, its entire stucture functioning as a full reflection of its themes and suffering protagonist's state of mind. Placing us inside the shoes of a man who's mentally and physically fading  by the minute is a big risk, but it proves to be brutally eye-opening in showing the impact of a disease that still very much carries stigmas and preconceived notions. That's it's almost unbearably difficult to watch is exactly the point, especially considering our disorientation from seeing this pales in comparison to the pain of those who have actually suffered from it.

Adapted from Zeller's own 2012 play, Le Père, it creates a self-contained world where time ceases to exist, events bleed into each other, and faces and names change. You wouldn't be blamed for assuming that's a description for a sci-fi story story rather than tragic reality, as most commericals and trailers haven't done it justice, selling the project as a Merchant Ivory-type production focusing on elder care. But in downplaying its chief conceit from ususpecting moviegoers, it's only all the more impactful when the pieces start coming together. And that's a courtesy never entirely extended to the main character, whose saddest, most devastating scenes arrive in fleeting moments of recognition, where he "knows" something's wrong, if not necessarily what. 

In a career of full of legendary performances, a good case can be made that this is Anthony Hopkins' best, finding inventive avenues to practically normalize the most abnormal behavior, actions and observations. While extremely uncomfortable to watch, this only seems to make its viewing that much more essential. Given all the attention paid over the past few year to films tackling important social issues, it would be a crime if this somehow managed to fall through the cracks.  

Anthony (Hopkins) is sufferering from memory loss and dementia, constantly misplacing items, failing to recall key names and events, or even recognize the most familiar faces in his life. When daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) visits him in his London flat and announces she's planning to move to Paris with her new boyfriend, Anthony's rattled. Confused as to who this person is and worried how Anne's impending absence could affect his routine, he becomes increasingly belligerent, digging his heels in and proclaiming he's not going anywhere, most especially a care facility. Having already gone through numerous nurses, the latest whom he accused of stealing his watch, a new caretaker named Laura (Imogen Poots) arrives, baring an uncanny resemblance to his late daughter, Lucy. 

Radiating wide-eyed optimism and a strong desire to help, Lucy's won over by Anthony's humor and charm, blissfully unaware that it won't be long before she's on the receiving end of his verbal abuse, however unintentional. While adamently denying he's suffering a cognitive decline, inexplicable occurances and the presence of an unknown man (Mark Gatniss) and woman (Olivia Williams) only further disorient Anthony. 

With Anthony rapidly losing his grasp on reality, Anne is pressured by her increasingly intolerant boyfriend, Paul (Rufus Sewell) to institutionalize him. Seemingly surrounded by so many, her father couldn't be more alone, with the disease's progression continuing to take its toll, completely isolating him in ways that seem almost unimaginable given the care and attention he receives. Through no fault of his own, none of it will be enough.

Every event that happens from the opening credits right through the final scene should be taken with a grain of salt. Under normal circumstances, this could be seen as a creative fault or labeled as manipulative by some. But it isn't long before you gradually catch on to what first-time feature director Zeller and co-writer Christopher Hampton are up to and how accurately this non-linear, zig-zag style structure reflects Anthony's plight, allowing us to see this fragmented world through his eyes. 

Regardless of how true it is, Anthony views his daughter's flat as his property, initially coming off as a cranky codger who would scream at kids to get off his lawn if he had one. Of course, that's the disease talking, making it impossible to form any concrete determination about his actual personality. With dementia fully taking hold, he can be an intolerable grump one moment, before coming off as a completely kind and engaging old soul the next, almost as if nothing's wrong. But it is, and Hopkins expertly flips that switch, giving us fletting glimpses of who he was before his faculties left him. 

As one of our great living actors, it's hard to call any Hopkins performance underappreciated but what he does here is remarkable, appearing to almost play entirely different characters throughout, gradually appearing more dissheveled and tweaking his speech patterns and movements according to how far along the illness has progressed. Ironically, the most apt comparision just might be his work in 1995's Nixon, where with the sheer force of his presence he seemed to physically will himsel into becoming the disgraced 37th President despite baring very little resemblance to the actual man.   

At various points, viewers will ask themselves why Anthony hasn't been put in a home already, wondering how much longer this man or those caring for him can possibly continue like this. That is until realizing we have no idea of measuring how much time has passed over the course of the film's running length. It could be a month, a year or even possibly longer. For all we know it could only be hours, but the screenplay doesn't ignore how it feels like decades for Anne or any of the aids who look after him. The strain on them isn't lost, and in one especially powerful dream sequence, she envisions a particularly cruel solution to the "problem," as if it isn't harsh enough describing him with that word. And yet Colman's performance is still so empathetic it's hard to judge the character or imagine anyone wouldn't also hate themselves for feeling the same way.

Anne's approach differs greatly from that of her boyfriend Paul's, which is viciously intolerant, highlighting the issue of elder abuse in its worst possible manifestation. But even here it's important to tread carefully when detailing events since we can't be sure they're happening exactly how they appear on screen. Like Anthony, the viewer is overcome with feelings of mistrust, disbelieving everyone and everything that's seen, until that frustration begins to turn to self-doubt. And despite being based on an acclaimed play and largely taking place within a single setting, most of what surrounds Anthony is constantly changing, sometimes in barely noticeable ways that challenge the audience to pay attention to even the smallest details within the apartment flat. This makes an emotionally triggering experience surprisingly ripe for repeated viewings in order to pick up on what was likely missed during an initial watch.  

Even when we're not completely sure what's happening, Hopkins ensures all the physical and mental signposts of Anthony's deterioration are present. Sometimes it's subtle, while at others it isn't, gradually worsening until it culminates in an ending that might be the most uncomfortable we've seen in years, with his entire state of mind regressing into childlike infancy. In personalizing the trauma by throwing viewers in headfirst, we're forced to confront the harsh truth of a rapidly vanishing mind. It would be flippant to call The Father an unforgettable experience since this material so painfully demonstrates that there's no such thing. Instead, it shows us that any memories, including those taking place over the course of this film, shouldn't be so easily taken for granted.

Solitary Man

Directors: Brian Koppelman and David Levien
Starring: Michael Douglas, Mary-Louise Parker, Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Olivia Thirlby
Running Time: 90 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

It's almost impossible to watch the dark comedy, Solitary Man without viewing it as a biographical account of star Michael Douglas' life, or at least what the public has been led to believe his life is, regardless of whether that assumption is true. You may as well as well title the movie, This is Your Life, Michael Douglas since the events that occur in it bear such an eerie resemblance to past and current headlines surrounding the actor. But focusing exclusively on that would be ignoring the fact that he's long been one of our most under-appreciated actors, only further proving it here with his best performance in years.

In kind of a cross between his slick tycoon Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and disheveled literary failure Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys, this might be his slimiest role yet, as a good portion of the movie is a creep fest featuring Douglas' character engaging in behavior that will be off-putting (to say the least) for viewers. The film's main asset is not shying away from that by presenting an unflinching story about a man with a serious problem that won't go away until he wants it to. While it's a small-scale, modest achievement that doesn't do anything special, it doesn't need to because the lead refuses to plead for sympathy with his portrayal and the filmmakers surround him with an all-star cast, while balancing some tricky material.

Douglas is formerly successful car dealer Ben Kalmen, whose life took a turn for the worse after finding out he could have a heart ailment, made questionable business decisions that lost him his fortune and romantic indiscretions led to the collapse of his marriage to wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon). Now, six years later, he's still feeling the repercussions, as his daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer) wants nothing to do with him until he starts acting his age and stops chasing younger women. Ben's rare shot at selflessness comes when he's roped into accompanying his girlfriend Jordan's (Mary Louise Parker) 18-year-old daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) on a college interview at his alma mater where he was an important financial donor. Instead, his behavior escalates to even more embarrassing levels on the trip, resulting in a one-night stand with Allyson that might be the creepiest hook-up this side of Lolita. Even his misguided attempts to mentor shy, nerdy student Daniel (played by Jesse Eisenberg) go haywire and the campus visit somehow finds Ben in worse shape than when he left. At a crossroads, he has to decide which direction he'll go.

Playing an aging lothario is nothing new for Douglas but most of the big studio movies he stars in lack the self-awareness he has in playing it, which hurts him as an actor by falsely perpetuating the unfair myth that it's the only part he's capable of playing. Writer (and Co-Director) Brian Koppelman's script share that awareness, fully acknowledging a 60-year-old man scouring a college campus for some action is not okay and extremely creepy. And so does every character except Ben. It always seems that smaller, more character driven films like this are better suited to tap into Douglas' overlooked strengths as a performer, playing a man who's coasts on his charm until it completely runs its course. Faced with his own mortality, Ben chooses not to face it and act out in humiliating ways, yet the actor still manages to make Ben charming and likable enough to root for despite all his character faults.

The film returns Douglas to the academic setting that resulted in his greatest performance a decade ago, but this time under very different circumstances and as half of what should be a dream team pairing with Eisenberg. Just the idea of Douglas prowling dormitory halls with Eisenberg while giving him unsolicited advice on how to pick up girls is alone worth the price of a DVD rental. Had their scenes together comprised the entire movie I wouldn't have complained, but it's just a small part of a bigger picture. The ads and trailers practically imply a buddy comedy with the two but Eisenberg's role, while mildly important, is essentially a thinly drawn cameo variation on his sensitive, geeky characters from Adventureland and Zombieland, but in a lower key. The supporting star is British actress Imogen Poots (what a name), who in addition to flawlessly pulling off an American accent, navigates a tough, complex role in Allyson, the quasi-love interest of Ben who's conniving and damaged enough to meet him at his level even though she's young enough to be his granddaughter. The cast is loaded with familiar faces fighting for screen time but all are incorporated well and make big impressions with what they're given, especially Mary Louise Parker as Ben's scorned girlfriend and Olivia Thirlby who appears late in the film as Daniel's love interest. There's also a nice sub-plot with Danny DeVito, who plays an old college buddy of Ben's, which takes on an extra layer when you consider Douglas' real-life friendship with the actor.

As obvious as it is to point out, the movie's title couldn't be more appropriate for a story centering on a protagonist who's become an island unto himself, pushing away anyone willing to help. Thankfully, the script stays consistent to the end, avoiding any kind of force-fed redemption or easy resolution that would feel like an unearned cheat or betrayal of the film's themes. Outside of Douglas' performance, it doesn't stand out from other efforts in this genre, coming off as neither memorable nor completely forgettable, but it intelligently deals with a lot of issues that had to hit close to home for him, and us. Calling Solitary Man a small character piece may seem condescending, if that wasn't exactly what it is. It's a well written drama about real people struggling with real problems, and it never hurts to see more of those.