Worth: $5.00
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Cast:
Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Sam Neill, Mia Wasikowska, Lindsay Duncan, Rainn Wilson
Intro:
…hammy earnestness.
Susan Sarandon leads Roger Michell’s (Notting Hill, Hyde Park on Hudson) film Blackbird as family matriarch for an eventful weekend. Besieged with a terminal illness, Lily gathers her family at her stunning wooden coastal house for a final farewell, as she plans to euthanize herself with the assistance of her doctor husband Paul (Sam Neill). The premise alone, with its many conveniences and insistent pathos, struggles to pass beyond stodgy sentimentality, even under the spotlights of a dazzling cast.
Perhaps only a project with the stamp of a name like Michell could shoe-horn each member into such a film, which, in addition to Sarandon and Neill, boasts Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Rainn Wilson and Lindsay Duncan. Diane Keaton was originally pitted for the terminal lead, but had to pull out, so Sarandon was ushered in as the next Hollywood heavyweight. This is a saving grace given Keaton’s role as the dying mother in The Family Stone – a duplicity which would highlight the emotional over-striving at the heart of Blackbird.
Naturally, the film’s focus is on Lily’s two daughters; Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska). Jennifer is the responsible and emotionally guarded mother and wife, who is constantly maddened by her younger sister Anna’s flighty behaviour. An image she lives up to when she unexpectedly brings along her on-again-off-again partner, the rebellious charmer Chris (Bex Taylor-Klaus). Then there’s Jennifer’s husband Michael, played by Rainn Wilson, who seems to have opted for more humourless roles of late. A humdrum sexless professor, it’s his habit to sporadically chime in with random facts across all subject matter.
A notable addition is British actress Lindsay Duncan, playing Lily’s best friend Liz, who played the lead alongside Jim Broadbent in Michell’s film Le Week-end. Her prowess surpasses the mandate of this film. In Blackbird’s final conflict, after a series of revelations aimed to prevent Lily from her seemingly stoic course of action, it is revealed that Liz and Paul are having an affair, actively encouraged by Lily. It’s as if the actors know how bogus and contrived the arrangement is, seeking to cloud an untenable script with tortured gestures and voices.
Based on the Danish film Silent Heart by Bille August, Blackbird typifies a glossy American uptake filled with an illustrious cast. Its premise and emotional tone are scattered. This might appear to be fertile material for a modestly humane work which is less smooth and controlled. But in reality, it resembles hoaxed stagecraft, with each actor playing their stereotyped role with hammy earnestness.
