Too opaque

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2014)

The film is beautifully shot and the director knows how to shoot landscape to illuminate a story like no one else but the movie remains hobbled by the director and writer's inability to make the DuPont character anything less than opaque. He remains an enigma from beginning to end. If this was their idea it is a fatal error because with no way into DuPont's character we are at a loss on who to process the information that unfolds. Steve Carell gives a good performance with very little material to work with on this role. We never understand "how" he came to the terrible last moments of the film. Mark Ruffalo gives the most complete portrait in the movie in the supporting role of Mark--he truly transcends the material. Channing Tatum (not a favorite of mine) is adequate in looking like a clueless ape in the movie, but he like Steve Carell fall victim to the inadequacies of the script. Vanessa Redgrave is underused and clearly her part could have illuminated many of the aspects of her son's character. The narrative seemed inadequate to the story being told. Or the story it seemed they wanted to tell but could not.