Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Mend (2014)

Director: John Magary
Writers:  John Magary, Russell Harbaugh, Myna Joseph
Cast:       Josh Lucas, Stephen Plunkett, Lucy Owen


A comic drama about rage, doubt, lust, madness, and other brotherly hand-me-downs. 

It is quite a hard film in terms of figuring out what exactly it is about in the first 30 minutes or so and that part is quite a slog. I was reminded of the Charles Bukowski films that I have seen during those parts since one of the character is like him. But from then on, you realize that it has got two protagonist brothers at its center and it is in fact a comedy. One of the brothers is kind of a drifter and the other one has got a more stable life and is on the verge of proposing to his girlfriend during a trip to Canada. When they leave, his brother ends up in their house and he invites his girlfriend and her kid in. It turns out that the house-owning couple had a breakup during the trip and the brother is back at his house and he is cool with the situation he finds when he is back. It proceeds from there. The middle portion of the film really worked for me and there are plenty of laughs in it. The ending was kind of tame but its still a very good watch overall. What it basically portrays is the differences and commonalities in personalities of the two brothers. Both of them have relationship issues but one is more comfortable in his skin. The treatment is quite different in the sense that the audience is not spoon-fed at all and you have to really pay attention to figure things out in the initial segment of the film. 

So, the film is a very good watch it you are patient enough and give it a chance. It can also be considered as a watered down version of 'Naked' as well, I guess. It is set in New-York and the performances are really good. It is funny how you start noticing a particular word frequently after you figure out its meaning. Psychologists call it the Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon. I don't think I have heard the word 'Moxie' prior to me watching 'Mistress America' last week and this film was produced by Moxie Pictures. It is an American slang word for describing someone who has got guts/nerve etc...  

Rating: 3.5/5

No comments:

Post a Comment