Sadness. Sadness so absolute it is punishing.
This is the best way I can describe what watching the inexorably depressing drama "The Family Fang" feels like virtually from start to finish. Jason Bateman is quite good in his role as we have become accustomed to seeing from the gifted actor. Bateman also doubles as Director here, and he certainly shows some intriguing promise for the future behind the camera. This is also in my opinion one of the best performances I have ever seen Nicole Kidman deliver. And I've seen her perform a lot.
Regrettably, none of this outstanding work can rescue "The Family Fang" from the chokehold of despondency which this wretched story relentlessly strangles us with. Ultimately what we are saddled with is a misery-drenched tale of two parents (Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett) who regard their young children as little more than compliant pawns in a twisted game of self-aggrandizement and perverse gratification. And all in the name of obliterating the boundaries of "performance art".
It is child abuse that these two sinister souls inflict upon their own flesh and blood. Nothing else. It is abjectly despicable.
And it is so VERY sad.
This is the best way I can describe what watching the inexorably depressing drama "The Family Fang" feels like virtually from start to finish. Jason Bateman is quite good in his role as we have become accustomed to seeing from the gifted actor. Bateman also doubles as Director here, and he certainly shows some intriguing promise for the future behind the camera. This is also in my opinion one of the best performances I have ever seen Nicole Kidman deliver. And I've seen her perform a lot.
Regrettably, none of this outstanding work can rescue "The Family Fang" from the chokehold of despondency which this wretched story relentlessly strangles us with. Ultimately what we are saddled with is a misery-drenched tale of two parents (Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett) who regard their young children as little more than compliant pawns in a twisted game of self-aggrandizement and perverse gratification. And all in the name of obliterating the boundaries of "performance art".
It is child abuse that these two sinister souls inflict upon their own flesh and blood. Nothing else. It is abjectly despicable.
And it is so VERY sad.