Ben Is Back (2018)
Stars: Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges. Courtney B. Vance
Runtime: 103 minutes
Synopsis: Ben, a young recovering drug addict, surprises his family on Christmas Eve by showing up unannounced at their door.
- Performances: 8/10
Why? The movie revolved mainly around two characters, played by Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. And while the latter delivered a strong performance only tainted by a few scenes where I felt that his delivery was a bit off, it's Roberts' acting that stole the show for me. Her ability to truly showcase a range of emotions that wide in 100 minutes or so is impressive, to say the least. She delivered her best performance since her Oscar-nominated role in "August: Osage County", and fans of hers will most likely walk out satisfied with what they've seen.
- Screenplay: 5/10
Why? It's one of those movies where you can't help but rewrite every scene in your head in a better way. You can see the story's potential as clear as day, but I, unfortunately, believe that the screenplay, written by the extremely talented Peter Hedges (who happens to be Lucas' father), needed a lot of polishing to have its desired effect on the audience. Some of the many issues I had with it include rather cheesy dialogue which fortunately was compensated by great acting, unnecessary scenes that ruined the film's subtlety by providing avoidable exposition, supporting characters that feel a bit left out, and a few irregularities in the narrative's logical train of events. My biggest complaint, however, is the fact that the movie focuses more on highlighting the dangers of substance addiction in a fairly too on-the-nose way than trying to take a moment to develop its main characters, which would've made the film infinitely more interesting in my opinion.
- Costumes/Makeup: 6/10
- Editing: 5/10
Why? As mentioned earlier, I found a lot of scenes that made the final cut to have weighted the story's quality down. They could've easily been edited out without any change in the movie's chain of events, and would've let the audience figure some things out on their own which is always welcome in this kind of movies. I also felt that the flow was a bit off, and that the film jumps from scene to scene without any real connection between them.
- Cinematography: 7/10
Why? Pretty good, actually. I enjoyed the heavy use of shaky camera work that sort of puts the audience in Ben's skin. The film's aesthetic was not an issue for me in any way, despite it not offering anything new.
- Score/Soundtrack: 7/10
Why? I loved the melancholic score that fit really well with the film's tone. A small detail I picked up but that probably won't bother a lot of people was in a touching scene where Ben's sister, Ivy, sings the famous Christmas carol "O Holy Night", which was obviously prerecorded and poorly incorporated into said scene, and sadly taking me out of it. But overall, composer Dickon Hinchliffe did yet another great job.
FINAL GRADE: 6/10
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