Such movies usually try to elicit a few tears along with the laughs. Blackbird wastes its premise on shallow storytelling, though its splendid cast adds heart to a sensitive subject. 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. The moral question, meanwhile, is complicated a bit by the fact Sarandon -- however polarizing she might be. Learn more “Soon,” replies his grandmother Lily (Susan Sarandon), entering the living room and smiling at him. Audiences have seen these familiar beats, plot devices, and dramatic spins multiple times over. 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. So she’s decided to take a fatal dose of medicine and go gently into the night. That creates not only an inexpensive showcase for the actors, but little to distract from their contributions. Review of the movie Blackbird, starring Susan Sarandon. 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. "Blackbird" is a remake of the 2014 Danish film "Silent Heart," both with screenplays by Christian Torpe. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Overall, Blackbird is a film that suffers from its repetitive nature. The premise and performers yield some emotional moments, inadvertently heightened by recent events. Blackbird Review. 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. 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." 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. This is a well made film about assisted suicide. 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. Share. Blackbird – Movie Review. 'Blackbird' flies high on the strength of his actors to deliver the emotional clout the movie promises. (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.) 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.'. 'Blackbird' review: Glancing treatment of a difficult subject. There is another agenda in the works, however. “When’s it happening?” asks Jonathan (Anson Boon), a teenager getting antsy at a family gathering. Featured Movie News. Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet in 'Blackbird.'. Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Rainn Wilson, Susan Sarandon. Roger Michell has amassed a filmography that can't quite be defined. His biggest movie - "Notting Hill," part of the 90s collection of Julia Roberts romantic comedies - was only his second feature as a director. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." In This Article: 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. Sign up for our newsletter. Top reviews from other countries Translate all reviews to English. That’s the “it” Jonathan inquired about. Directed by Roger Michell. Tweet. Note: The writer of this review watched Blackbird from home on a digital screener. 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. Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. ‘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 … Want more Rolling Stone? 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. Available today on VOD (Video on Demand) and DVD, is the dramatic film, Blackbird. (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. Here’s an interview on the matter with scientific experts. We want to hear from you! 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. When a medium –cinema– becomes so vast with thousands of new titles every year, the need for new genres ramifies quickly. 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. Avec BLACKBIRD, on pourrait penser à un film américain mais, il s'agit en fait d'un film canadien. Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. MOVIE TITLE: Blackbird. It even takes a shockingly long time for the sorrowful strings to kick in on the score. Lily has been afflicted with ALS for a while, and things are starting to get bad. Blackbird features an all-star cast including Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Sam Neill, Rainn Wilson and Mia Wasikowska. Its high point is immediately followed by a downward … A remake of the 2014 Danish film 'Silent Heart'. JEAN PIERRE G. 5.0 out of 5 stars BLACKBIRD, le principe de précaution. 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. Email. 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. 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). 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. "Blackbird" has it the other way around. 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. 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. 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. Get Movies. 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. In life, there's surely something in that philosophy. 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