THE PLOT THUS FAR
A mother and wife stricken with memory loss allows a dysfunctional family a second chance at harmony and happiness.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Finnish director Vivi Friedman makes her feature film debut with this tragic but comic tale of wife and mother Bunnie Burnett, a woman who loses her memory and conveniently forgets all her problems — including her interracial affair with a neighbor.
While pleasant enough, this movie comes off as slap-dash and unfocused. It just doesn’t know where it wants to go, which story/character it really wants to follow. This is partly the fault of being based on the “dysfunctional family” trope, which works best when we still manage to care/sympathize/identify with at least one of the family members. The problem here is that we can’t: the mother’s a bitch, the father’s an impotent robot, the son’s a gun-obsessed Jesus freak.
The wife gives herself amnesia while having sex with the neighbor, the hypocritical religious son starts doing drugs while simultaneously developing a crush on a homosexual classmate, a neighbor finds himself associate with a couple of black hip-robbers. Oh, by the way, these are just a few of the numerous subplots that attempt to provide some dark insights of American life.
The Blu-Ray comes with a featurette, interviews and a trailer. The A/V Quality is pretty sharp with a surprising 1080p transfer. However, the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track lacks any back channel support. Still, it’s an indie dramedy…what did you expect? I’d recommend a rental.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
