Month: September 2022

After the death of his father, Christopher Abbott’s adrift twenty-something titular character falls down a spiral of self destructive behavior, ignoring the co-dependent pleas of his terminally ill mother. There’s not much to the film other than watching Abbott’s character struggle to find stable ground all while continuing to dig himself further down a hole of drug binges, fighting, and sex with the teenaged girlfriend he met in Mexico. But it’s an incredible performance that really showcases how strong of an actor Abbott is, especially when working with Cynthia Nixon as his mother who delivers an equally strong performance in a supporting role.

In 1961, pensioner Kempton Bunton (portrayed here by Jim Broadbent) stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery as part of his campaign to provide television licences for those struggling to afford them. Broadbent is a good choice as Bunton and Helen Mirren provides the perfectly sensible foil as his wife. There’s a category of film that I tend to think of as cozy British flicks and this one falls firmly into that category: working class characters who live perfectly average lives except for one quirk which sets them apart and provides the impetus for the story. It’s a comfy way to waste away an afternoon, watching something that’s not too complex or offensive but still entertaining.