© Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. His biggest movie - "Notting Hill," part of the 90s collection of Julia Roberts romantic comedies - was only his second feature as a director. For the first hour or so of Blackbird, this is what we get: a casual, almost laid-back story of an upper-middle-class family saying au revoir to one of their own. Get Movies. (CNN) "Blackbird" assembles a terrific cast in the service of fairly mundane movie -- a small-boned production about a woman facing a terminal diagnosis, summoning her … The situation is, at first, pleasantly awkward, and an ideal independent-film concept -- putting a group of people together in a single location for a very finite period of time. MOVIE TITLE: Blackbird. The cast is quite good, although the movie could wind up as a 2020 afterthought for Winslet, who's again earning award buzz for her featured role in the upcoming "Ammonite." Accusations are hurled, voices are raised, secrets are revealed, and wounds are reopened so they can heal that much quicker. The right to die is one of those topics that tends to divide moviegoers along rigidly defined lives, and that's very likely going to be the case about "Blackbird," an American remake of the 2014 Danish offering "Silent Heart." Verified Purchase. There are hints of past turmoil, and age-old grudges rearing their ugly heads. In life, there's surely something in that philosophy. Before the condition worsens, she plans to quietly take her own life with the help of her husband (Sam Neill), but not before spending the weekend in their idyllic beach house with her family. In truth, it’s a subgenre of a subgenre of a genre. Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. Learn more Available today on VOD (Video on Demand) and DVD, is the dramatic film, Blackbird. Directed by Roger Michell ("My Cousin Rachel"), this remake of the 2014 Danish film "Silent Heart" occasionally puts a lump in your throat, such as when Lily asks her longtime friend (Lindsay Duncan) to "look after my girls." When a medium –cinema– becomes so vast with thousands of new titles every year, the need for new genres ramifies quickly. Hence the gathering, which doubles as a sort of wake featuring an early Christmas, a stroll along the shore recalling pleasant memories (with a pit stop at the the site of a daughter’s conception many, many years ago), a huge feast, some one-on-one chats and several expensive bottles of wine. TikTok Taps 100 Black Creators for an Incubator Program, ‘Ginny & Georgia’: Meet the New Gilmore Girls, Dialed Up to 11, Watch Axl Rose’s Cameo Appearance on ‘Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?’, Meghan McCain Wants Fauci Replaced With ‘Someone Who Understands Science’, As Toilet Paper Stock Plunges, Bidets Are Making a Splash, ‘The Mauritanian’: Putting a Face to the War on Terror’s Casualties. Home > Featured > Movie Reviews > Movies > Movie Review: ‘Blackbird’ Movie Review: ‘Blackbird’ David Ferguson September 18, 2020 2020-09-18T02:52:36-05:00 2020-09-18T02:52:36-05:00 "Love is all there is," Lily tells her family, as she tries to help them let go. From Susan Sarandon to Kate Winslet to Mia Wasikowska to Sam Neill, there's no denying the cast all deliver on what they are given. Blackbird features an all-star cast including Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Sam Neill, Rainn Wilson and Mia Wasikowska. Lily has been afflicted with ALS for a while, and things are starting to get bad. The R rating is for language, some drug use and brief sexual material Latest news about Blackbird, starring Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Sam Neill, Mia Wasilkowska and directed by Roger Michell. Avec BLACKBIRD, on pourrait penser à un film américain mais, il s'agit en fait d'un film canadien. The lady does not want to go out swinging, but smiling. It even takes a shockingly long time for the sorrowful strings to kick in on the score. Review of the movie Blackbird, starring Susan Sarandon. That creates not only an inexpensive showcase for the actors, but little to distract from their contributions. (CNN)"Blackbird" assembles a terrific cast in the service of fairly mundane movie -- a small-boned production about a woman facing a terminal diagnosis, summoning her family to say goodbye. BLACKBIRD -- director Roger Michell 's remake of the 2014 Danish film Silent Heart -- is a family drama about a woman with a terminal illness who gathers her husband, her daughters and their partners, her grandson, and her best friend for a final weekend together before she moves ahead with her assisted dying plan. Review: Love, life and death in the intimate family drama ‘Blackbird’ The family drama “Blackbird” with, from left, Sam Neill, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Rainn … Sign up for our newsletter. Amid the bittersweet farewell, unresolved feelings surface. ‘Blackbird’ Review: Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Susan Sarandon Oscar-winning star plays a matriarch who gathers her family together for a long goodbye in … The two grown sisters definitely have a history, given that Jennifer is a case study in Type A uptight-itude and Anna has cultivated a serious black-sheep vibe. Blackbird – Movie Review. So she’s decided to take a fatal dose of medicine and go gently into the night. A remake of the 2014 Danish film 'Silent Heart'. 2 Shares . Winslet does a lot with a little in terms of her coiled-spring of a daughter; Wasikowska is a fine actor who finds herself stymied by what she’s got to work with here; Wilson channels amiable nerdiness, Neill is all gray-fox paternal sturdiness and Sarandon does her benevolent earth-mother thing. Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet take the lead in stagy end-of-life melodrama Blackbird: Review this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. His parents, Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Michael (Rainn Wilson), shoot him a STFU glare. 'Blackbird' flies high on the strength of his actors to deliver the emotional clout the movie promises. What you’re left with is the cinematic equivalent of a clipped-wing plummet. Overall, Blackbird is a film that suffers from its repetitive nature. In the movies, there ought to be a little more to it than "Blackbird" finally delivers. Blackbird (3,178) IMDb 6.4 1 h 37 min 2020 X-Ray R Lily (Susan Sarandon) summons her daughters Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska) for one final family reunion as she looks to end her battle with a terminal illness. Before that happens, however, Lily wants to spend what little time she has left with her loved ones and her very best friend, Liz (Lindsay Duncan). The conversation also drifts into the biggest of themes about the question of choosing to end one's life and what might await her -- indeed, everyone -- after. The premise and performers yield some emotional moments, inadvertently heightened by recent events. "Blackbird" has it the other way around. Susan Sarandon is Lily, whose shuffling, strenuous effort just to get up and down the stairs reveal the way that ALS is ravaging her body. “Soon,” replies his grandmother Lily (Susan Sarandon), entering the living room and smiling at him. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. What the Hell Is Going On in Sia’s ‘Music’? One person in particular feels a little wary about signing off on the whole euthanasia idea. This is a well made film about assisted suicide. As "Blackbird" unfolds, though, there's a too-familiar quality to the feelings that come spilling out, including old resentments and conflicts brought to the fore regarding Lily's grown daughters -- one (Kate Winslet) a tightly wound mom, the other (Mia Wasikowska) still finding herself -- each there with a partner, as well as a few secrets. That’s the “it” Jonathan inquired about. The spell breaks, at which point you may start to notice that some of these characters seem a little thin, and others don’t seem like characters at all so much as a collection of crude mannerisms, tics and unaddressed script notes. Tweet. This isn’t a death movie so much as a slightly grief-tinged hang-out movie set in an interior decorator’s dream come true. References ‘Blackbird’ movie review - The Washington Post Isaiah Washington, left, is a standout in his portrayal of a seemingly macho father to Julian Walker’s Randy in “Blackbird.” (RLJ Entertainment) Setting that aside, the idea all this unfolds within a weekend feels a trifle contrived, which might explain why the movie labors down the back stretch. Roger Michell has amassed a filmography that can't quite be defined. Buy Movies. (It isn’t surprising that Thorpe is penning an English-language version of his screenplay for the 2014 Danish movie Silent Heart; the movie has a distinctly European mood to it.) Such movies usually try to elicit a few tears along with the laughs. September 14, 2020. Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet in 'Blackbird.'. The group — along with Jennifer’s sister Anna (Mia Wasikowska) and Anna’s girlfriend, Chris (Bex Taylor-Klaus) — has ostensibly gathered to the posh beach house owned by the matriarch and her husband, Paul (Sam Neill), for Thanksgiving dinner. When a woman seriously afflicted with ALS sees what lies ahead Here’s an interview on the matter with scientific experts. Featured Movie News. JEAN PIERRE G. 5.0 out of 5 stars BLACKBIRD, le principe de précaution. Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Rainn Wilson, Susan Sarandon. MOVIE REVIEW: Blackbird (Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Screen Media) BLACKBIRD— 3 STARS Quite quickly into Roger Michell’s Blackbird, Susan Sarandon stamps exactly what kind of terminally ill character this film intends to portray. Share. Blackbird wastes its premise on shallow storytelling, though its splendid cast adds heart to a sensitive subject. There is another agenda in the works, however. Mitchell's small-scale drama - which perhaps unconvincingly substitutes England's South Coast for The Hamptons - could easily be a stage play, and might have been better received as such, likely disappearing without a trace on digital release (and, shortly, DVD-only release). There’s a new subgenre in cinema. "Blackbird" inadvertently benefits from the way those connections -- bonds with family, the pain of loss and learning to let go -- have been tested in these trying times, and the notion of identifying what's truly important. Blackbird is the anti-Notting Hill in that, instead of seeking to mine all the clichés of the genre in service of an uplifting ending, this movie does everything in its power to promote the usage of tissues and handkerchiefs. Movie Review: Blackbird Entertainment, Movies. With Sam Neill, Susan Sarandon, Anson Boon, Kate Winslet. Blackbird Review. Movie Review Mom GRADE: B+. If we work from the top, we have the drama. A remake of the 2014 Danish film ‘ Silent Heart ‘. Directed by Roger Michell. Updated 1:54 PM ET, Tue September 15, 2020. Its high point is immediately followed by a downward … Yet as a whole, the film never quite takes wing. Audiences have seen these familiar beats, plot devices, and dramatic spins multiple times over. Of course, that might not blunt the emotional effects for those who have experienced losing a parent or dealt with the matter of how to bid farewell -- a scenario logistically exacerbated for many amid this age of Covid-19. In This Article: Randy Steinberg. “When’s it happening?” asks Jonathan (Anson Boon), a teenager getting antsy at a family gathering. Note: The writer of this review watched Blackbird from home on a digital screener. But director Roger Michell — a South African filmmaker whose resumé includes everything from the classic BBC miniseries The Buddha of Suburbia to Changing Lanes to Notting Hill — and screenwriter Christian Thorpe more or less drop viewers directly into the “acceptance” phase of Kübler-Ross‘s stages of grief. The “soon” part is in two days. The moral question, meanwhile, is complicated a bit by the fact Sarandon -- however polarizing she might be. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed of average reviews". Watch Exclusive 'The Sinners' Trailer Read More; What to Watch on FandangoNOW: ‘News of the World,’ ‘Promising Young Woman,’ ‘Synchronic’ and More Read More; This Week in Movie News: Chris Evans Returning as Captain America, Ben Affleck Directing ‘Keeper of the Lost Cities’ and More Read More Before making the decision to see it—or any other film—in a movie theater, please consider the health risks involved. We want to hear from you! Blackbird is equal parts riveting and infuriating. The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and is now available now on streaming at DVD RATING: R. LENGTH: 1 hour, 37 minutes. Reviewed in France on June 8, 2017. There are too many splendid little touches in this tale of letting go to dismiss it entirely, and too many latebreaking wrong turns it takes to completely forgive it. ‘Blackbird’ Review: Susan Sarandon Wants to Die in Satisfying Remake of Danish Drama Aided by Kate Winslet, Sam Neill, and Mia Wasikowska, … Email. Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. A terminally ill mother arranges to bring her family together one last time before she dies. The site's critics consensus states: "Blackbird wastes its premise on shallow storytelling, though its splendid cast adds heart to a sensitive subject." "Blackbird" is a remake of the 2014 Danish film "Silent Heart," both with screenplays by Christian Torpe. By Matthew Passantino. And then it’s as if someone nudges Blackbird in the ribs, taps their watch and reminds the film that it’s supposed to be a melodrama, not a mellow in memoriam, and a far more typical story of family feuding kicks in. Anecdotes are shared, a poem is recited — more like rapped, really, complete with group table-thumping — and maybe a joint or two get passed around. Top reviews from other countries Translate all reviews to English. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/movies/blackbird-review.html Pin 2. “Blackbird” is a remake of the 2014 Danish film “Silent Heart,” and that film’s screenwriter, Christian Torpe, has written the screenplay for this version as well. 'Blackbird' review: Glancing treatment of a difficult subject. Oscar-winning star plays a matriarch who gathers her family together for a long goodbye in this mixed memorial melodrama, Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet in 'Blackbird.'. ‘Saint Maud’: Faith, Madness, A Holy Terror of a Horror Movie. This is very much the Hollywood version, with Oscar-winning actresses, sad violins on the score signaling serious drama, and a gorgeous setting, the English shore standing in for Connecticut. Want more Rolling Stone? 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