Review: Blackbird

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Lily's (Susan Surandon) body is deteriorating. She's dying, but she wants to be the one to choose when that happens before her body no longer responds to her commands. She and her husband Paul (Sam Neill) have invited their family over for one last weekend before Lily drinks a cocktail of drugs that will relieve her of her suffering and let her die peacefully. Her oldest daughter Jennifer (Kate Winslet) is a control freak who is having issues not being able to control this. Her younger sister, Anna (Mia Wasikowska) is aloof and isn't ready to see her mother go before they mend their issues. Over all, it's quite the family weekend.

This is a remake of a Danish film that I haven't seen, so I was shocked when this film didn't head right into melodrama and get overly sappy. All of these characters felt like real, flawed people. Anna and Jennifer are both reacting to this situation in dramatically different ways, none of which are good, but can you blame them? Lily is the only one with a handle on things. Paul is on her side, but his silent suffering was heartbreaking.

For a film about death, there was plenty of amusing moments throughout. Not laugh out loud comedy but real jokes you'd expect to be cracked at family gatherings. I honestly liked this far more than I expected.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I could die happy right now." - Chris (Bex Taylor-Klaus)

Comments

  1. thevoid99December 26, 2020 at 5:22 PM

    This looks interesting though I think I want to see the original version first and then this version.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamDecember 26, 2020 at 9:31 PM

      Thank you for reading! I'd like to see the original too eventually to compare.

      Delete

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