If it wasn't for the magnetic, ironclad presence of Brian Cox, it might be easy to turn away from this oft-told story of a rough prisoner with a horrible, criminal past who is returning home to rekindle what he lost. Yet Cox is not the only one on board; there is also Kate Beckinsale in an almost unrecognizable turn as this prisoner's troubled daughter and Christopher Convery as her intelligent, bullied son that gives this movie a higher pedigree and a few rich layers in its characterizations.
Cox is Max, a cancer-stricken prisoner who is being let out of jail to stay with his daughter since he only has a few months to live. Beckinsale is Maxine, who begrudgingly lets her dad stay with her and her smart-alecky son prone to epileptic seizures, Ezra (Christopher Convery). Naturally, this will not be a smooth transition and Max and Maxine's troubled history involving Maxine's drug-addled, suicidal, long gone mother is brimming to the surface. Max has an ankle monitor so he can't venture far from his home, and Maxine wants her son to believe he is his "uncle and not blood related." Ezra catches on fast that his uncle is his grandfather. Meanwhile, Maxine has her own problems including trouble holding down a job and dealing with Ezra's drug-addicted drummer of a dad. Ezra is being bullied at school yet it takes Max to teach his grandson how to fight back, thanks to Max's past days as an amateur boxer.
"Prisoner's Daughter" is nothing new and will not score points on originality (though I was shocked by the brutal ending) but I don't go to see movies like this for original plots. The purpose of "Prisoner's Daughter," keenly observed by director Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen"), is to illustrate a complicated, unsentimentally portrayed family dynamic and that is where the movie really sings. Brian Cox is absolutely credible as a prisoner with a hinted barbaric past and a desperate need to belong to a family again despite being out of the picture for 12 years. Kate Beckinsale proves what an astute actress she is, displaying calm and muted rage with knowing touches of humor to show she can recognize how awry her present situation is - her scene with Cox where she tearily mentions the parental neglect that made her into an adult is impactful. Kudos also go to Christopher Convery who conveys the weaknesses and the intelligence of a 12-year-old readying for adulthood, seeing beneath the surface of everything and always wanting to hear the "man" version of unfolding events.
Most of "Prisoner's Daughter" can be predicted yet I never felt as if I was travelling the same old waters of an aging man learning to pick up the pieces of a tough life. The actors give it enough dramatic pull and emotional honesty to make it seem new all over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment