“Ben Is Back†hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. It opens with Holly (Julia Roberts) coming home from church with three of her four children who have been practicing for the Christmas pageant. Upon the arrival she is first shocked and then overjoyed to see her son Ben (Lucas Hedges) standing in the driveway. He had been staying in rehab, not allowed to leave, recovering from his drug habit once again but tells her that his sponsor and the head of the sober-living facility had Okayed the trip.
Ben’s younger half-sister, Lacey (Mia Fowler) and half-brother Liam (Jakari Fraser), adore him as does the family dog. Ben’s sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is angry with him from previous experiences while his stepfather Neal (Courtney B. Vance) wonders aloud, “How many chances are we, the family, suppose to give Ben?†He also questions what Ben’s fate would have been if he was a black boy.
Without giving any spoilers the gist of the movie is that Ben must spend every minute of the 24 hours he will be home under the eye of his mother, including when he has to take a urinating drug test which brings some humor into a dark film concentrating on a mother’s love for a child that is the strongest love of all.
Aside from strong performances of Fowler, Fraser, Newton and Vance, there is a cameo by Rachel Bay Jones as a mother who lost her daughter to drugs and David Zaldivar and Michael Esper as part of Ben’s past.
Peter Hedges wrote and directed this film and does a fine job in both departments not overdoing either the family, rehab or drug scenes. The musical soundtrack is unobtrusive which is quite rare in films these days.
What makes this film special are the two commanding performances of the leads.
In 2016 Lucas Hedges, yes he is the son of Peter Hedges, was nominated for a best-supporting actor in his role in “Manchester by the Sea†and last month he played the gay son in “Boy Erased†who was sent to a conversion camp. In this film he lets you see what and how drugs affect a boy’s life mentally and physically and the pain he has caused his family is there on his face.
In 2000 when Julia Roberts was accepting her Oscar for Best Actress in “Erin Brockovich†the orchestra started to play her off but she stopped them saying that this may be her only chance and I hope this film proves her wrong. Roberts has a lot of stiff competition in the Best Actress category this year---sorry Glenn Close, I was rooting for you up to this point—but she gives a performance of a woman who did/does the best by her children and will fight for them no matter the cost if she feels they are right, that will touch you and move you to tears.
“Ben Is Back†is not really a “Christmas movie†but it is a heartfelt movie that will affect the parent in you whether you have children or not.
The movie and the performances by Roberts and Hedges make it a definite ‘Must See’.
Movie trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkkgG_jhYQk
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“Ben Is Back†hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. It opens with Holly (Julia Roberts) coming home from church with three of her four children who have been practicing for the Christmas pageant. Upon the arrival she is first shocked and then overjoyed to see her son Ben (Lucas Hedges) standing in the driveway. He had been staying in rehab, not allowed to leave, recovering from his drug habit once again but tells her that his sponsor and the head of the sober-living facility had Okayed the trip.
Ben’s younger half-sister, Lacey (Mia Fowler) and half-brother Liam (Jakari Fraser), adore him as does the family dog. Ben’s sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is angry with him from previous experiences while his stepfather Neal (Courtney B. Vance) wonders aloud, “How many chances are we, the family, suppose to give Ben?†He also questions what Ben’s fate would have been if he was a black boy.
Without giving any spoilers the gist of the movie is that Ben must spend every minute of the 24 hours he will be home under the eye of his mother, including when he has to take a urinating drug test which brings some humor into a dark film concentrating on a mother’s love for a child that is the strongest love of all.
Aside from strong performances of Fowler, Fraser, Newton and Vance, there is a cameo by Rachel Bay Jones as a mother who lost her daughter to drugs and David Zaldivar and Michael Esper as part of Ben’s past.
Peter Hedges wrote and directed this film and does a fine job in both departments not overdoing either the family, rehab or drug scenes. The musical soundtrack is unobtrusive which is quite rare in films these days.
What makes this film special are the two commanding performances of the leads.
In 2016 Lucas Hedges, yes he is the son of Peter Hedges, was nominated for a best-supporting actor in his role in “Manchester by the Sea†and last month he played the gay son in “Boy Erased†who was sent to a conversion camp. In this film he lets you see what and how drugs affect a boy’s life mentally and physically and the pain he has caused his family is there on his face.
In 2000 when Julia Roberts was accepting her Oscar for Best Actress in “Erin Brockovich†the orchestra started to play her off but she stopped them saying that this may be her only chance and I hope this film proves her wrong. Roberts has a lot of stiff competition in the Best Actress category this year---sorry Glenn Close, I was rooting for you up to this point—but she gives a performance of a woman who did/does the best by her children and will fight for them no matter the cost if she feels they are right, that will touch you and move you to tears.
“Ben Is Back†is not really a “Christmas movie†but it is a heartfelt movie that will affect the parent in you whether you have children or not.
The movie and the performances by Roberts and Hedges make it a definite ‘Must See’.
Movie trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkkgG_jhYQk
Have a good one.