Meadowland
One year after the abduction of their son, a policeman (Luke Wilson) and his wife (Olivia Wilde) continue to fall into a vortex of guilt and despair.
Director:
Reed Morano
Cast:
Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Juno Temple, Giovanni Ribisi, Elisabeth Moss, John Leguizamo, Kid Cudi,
Screenplay:
Chris Rossi
Screening Date:
Sep 26, 2015
Studio:
Sony Picture Classics, RATPAC Entertainment
Running Time:
105 minutes
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Fair | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.3% | 12.8% | 23.1% | 33.3% | 20.5% |
This was a tough film, excruciatingly painful circumstance for this couple, and I, for one in the audience, felt great empathy for their suffering. Heartbreaking, really.
What was the point?
The film didn't develop in a compelling way. I found the dad more interesting since he was a policeman and one could situate him in society. The mother in the classroom was not credible. Her flipping out in the classroom was unreal. The resolution was weak.
A devastating yet strongly lyrical and powerful exploration of profound grieving. Cinematography and sound score were as important as the narrative and acting.
A horrific event causes a couple to fall into despair and hopelessness. Slow moving and graphic depiction of grief and mental illness. Time for a romantic comedy!
No point except for getting everything in: drug addiction, mental illness, Asperger's, sex and abduction. Who thought this up? The elephant?
A little bit of everything but not enough of the elephant. Yuk!
This was a good movie! Loved the ending!
Olivia WIlde is perfect in her anguish. This is a role that could easily have gone maudlin or melodramatic or over-the-top histrionics, yet she avoids all the pitfalls and delivers a haunting performance.
90 minutes too much! So many flaws of logic in the story plus intense close-ups with blurred backgrounds is not appealing cinematography.
Yes, a totally character-driven piece devoid of plot, but Wilde and Wilson are more than up to the challenge.
The music was extremely distracting and tried to be manipulative but failed.
This film was good in the sense of drawing a clear picture of the feelings of losing someone to the unknown. I had some trouble following it and was a little confused. The acting I thought was great. Especially Sarah, Paul and Adam.
Too uncomfortable.
They used to put lost children on milk cartons, and that was too depressing. Doubtful if America will flock to the movie, but for what it is it is near perfect.
Very well made. Too disturbing.
Very well made. Depressing. But I do believe that the ending represents a new start for them, now that they have closure and signs of good things like the elephant for the boy.
As a teacher it is hard to separate the outside world from the classroom world, and Sarah's descent into guilt and recrimination is certainly understandable. And counselling will work only if she will let it work.
Powerful portrayal of personal grief. Deeply painfully stomach churning. Superb performances by a talented cast. Brace yourself, not for everyone.
Maybe too realistic. No light at the end of the tunnel except for the possible relationship with the boy and the elephant!
Pretty dark! Reed Morano is someone to continue watching. Powerful direction of a very difficult subject. She really captures Wilde's character as she diminishes. Olivia Wile captures the essence of her character. An unrelenting film, which is perhaps, the appropriate tone for a film that tackles such a difficult subject. This event tipper her over the edge. The exaggerated use of wild sound adds to the sense of her breakdown.
Very heavy and depressing. Good acting.
Poor handling of the subject matter. No redeeming aspects of this movie. Very poor ending.
A brave film from the start with a story of an unimaginable horror that makes significant demands on the audience but braver still in its presentation and execution. Don't want to see it again but glad I saw it this morning. And wow what a performance by Olivia Wilde.
If you'd like to know more about the film...
Some people like sad movies--sometimes seeing grief portrayed in art helps us overcome our own losses, failures, pains. Meadowland deals with a lot of heavy, somber material--stemming from the loss of Sarah (Olivia Wilde) and Phil's (Luke Wilson) son. This inciting event is shared by another movie we watched at MEA a few years back--The Broken Circle Breakdown. Equally as heavy (though slightly less divisive within our group), Breakdown paints a similar picture of a young couple torn to shreds by the loss of their child. If you can handle more heartbreak--and you're looking for a fantastic film to fill-in the screening we miss for Columbus Day Weekend--check out The Broken Circle Breakdown. Another film--also about the unimaginable grief following the loss of a child--to check out is 2010's Rabbit Hole. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart star as (you guessed it) a young couple torn apart by the loss of their child.
imdb for The Broken Circle Breakdown: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024519/
imdb for Rabbit Hole: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0935075/
Blown away by the striking cinematography within Meadowland. One of only 14 women and the youngest member ever invited into the American Society of Cinematographers, Reed Morano's extremely powerful imagery is on display here in her show reel: stark images of pain and darkness, yet somehow--still beautiful: https://vimeo.com/57217479
One of the hardest parts for Phil and Sarah is the ambiguity of their son's absence. This ambiguity is further visited upon the audience. Even when Phil and Sarah learn the truth, the audience never truly learns what happens to their son. Couples that lose their children find not knowing to be the worst part of the whole ordeal--a lack of closure compounding on the initial loss. This article discusses the impact of child abduction on a family: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/buddy-system/201205/the-impact-chil...
Olivia Wilde's performance is arguably the core of the entire film. Though, within our group, Meadowland was a divisive film, one consensus was that Wilde (along with the rest of the small, star-studded cast) was phenomenal. In addition to Olivia Wilde, director Reed Morano is also an extremely talented female artist. In this article in Variety, Morano discusses her relationship with Wilde--who doggedly sought the producer role--and how it impacted the film--while also discussing how their mutual womanhood helped them relate to the lead character: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/meadowland-olivia-wilde-director-reed-...
Throughout the course of the film, Wilde's character Sarah falls deeper and deeper into depression. At one point, her anguish culminates in self-harm. Self-harm is a prevalent symptom of those with mental illnesses--such as depression--and is a lot more common in adults than one may think. Linked here are two extremely important articles discussing at length the issues of adult self-harm as presented in the film. The first, a very in-depth article featuring stories of adult self-harm. The second, a blog post detailing ways of avoiding self-injury.
'The Pain Felt Good' - When Adults Self-Harm: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/11/26/comment-self-harming-adult
Depression and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201202/depress...
