In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Monday, 9 December 2013

THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL [2013]

Written & directed by Francesca Gregorini, The Truth About Emanuel is a dark, haunting drama that explores themes of death, grief, growing up and mental illness.
The film's greatest strength is without a doubt the two leading performances of Skins' Kaya Scodelario, who portrays a intelligent yet troubled kid with a smart assed response to everything, and Jessica Biel as a recently divorced single mother dealing with some loose screws.  They display a wonderful chemistry that is unfortunately sullied by some spots of horrible dialogue.  What's odd is the film has some moments of beautifully poetic dialogue that you won't soon forget.
The whole movie seems to rapidly teeter back & forth between a hypnotizingly original indie-drama and a overly melodramatic TV movie which can be quite frustrating at times.

3 fish out of 5

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