Director: Shana Feste
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 104 minutes
Boundaries (DVD) – Movie Review
Boundaries has three main characters: Laura, her father Jack and her son Henry. One is addicted to rescuing stray dogs, the other deals pot while well in his eighties, and the latter is just a bit of an odd one, who gets expelled from school. Circumstances force this strange trio to go on a road trip together. It sure promises to be interesting.
Laura Jaconi (Vera Farmiga) is a single mom who lives in Portland with her teenage son Henry (Lewis MacDougall). She hasn’t been in contact with her father (Christopher Plummer) much, as he used to be a criminal. At the moment, he lives in a retirement home, and while he tries to contact her recently, she never answers his calls. Laura sees a psychiatrist to cope with the problems with her father, as well as her habit to take home every stray dog she comes across. Nonetheless, she manages quite well in life, that is until Henry gets expelled from school. Henry has quite the artistic mind, and the principal suggests a specialized school for him, but Laura can’t afford to send him there. That’s why she finally decides to answer her father’s calls.
It turns out that her father needs a new place to live, as he was kicked out of the retirement home. He first suggests living with Laura and Henry, but it is soon agreed that he should stay with Laura’s sister JoJo (Kristen Schaal) in L.A.. Laura agrees to take him there in his old Rolls Royce, in exchange for money to send Henry to the private school. All seems to be perfectly arranged, but what she doesn’t know is that her father stashed the trunk full of marijuana, to sell on the way. He even involves Henry in his plans, making him an accomplice, all while Laura doesn’t suspect a thing. The trip is long though, and a lot can still happen underway.
We must admit that, when reading the synopsis on the back of the DVD cover of Boundaries, we didn’t really know what to expect. We didn’t find the synopsis to be overwhelmingly interesting, and so we didn’t expect the film to be so either. We must say however, that we were surprised with what we saw. The film isn’t very complicated, but that’s exactly where its strength lies. It revolves almost solely around three characters of completely different ages, who only seem to be connected by blood. The more the movie progresses, the more the characters are developed, and the more you start to see why they are the way they are, and they themselves start to see that too. It’s only a road trip, but road trips can be very therapeutic, even with a stash of marijuana hidden away in the trunk.
The acting performances in this film are absolutely top notch. Christopher Plummer is still a fantastic actor. His character must have been a very fun one to play, as you don’t often see a 89 year old drug dealer. Lewis MacDougall impresses too in this film. His acting is very convincing, as is his American accent. As a young Scottish actor, that can’t have been easy. Vera Farmiga does a marvelous job portraying Laura, who isn’t completely mentally stable, but wants to do what’s best for her son, even though that turns out to be quite the challenge when her father gets involved.
There is only one extra feature on the DVD release of Boundaries, and that is a making of. We don’t really mind there being so few extra features, as a film such as this doesn’t need too many whistles and bells. Nonetheless, we really did enjoy the making of, as it gave us some more insight as to where the idea for the film came from, how the cast made their characters their own and so on.
Conclusion
Boundaries may sound like just an average film, but we must say that we really enjoyed watching it. The road trip turned out to be quite interesting, when we found out that Laura’s father intended to deal drugs on the way. Other than that, the story stays quite simple, without too many side tracks and with a steady pace, and that’s exactly where its strength lies. If you can get your hands on it, this one is surely worth the watch.
No Comments