Hedgess film may speak truths about issues of addiction and recovery, and the hell that addicts put their families through, but it cudgels viewers by having the characters talk about rigorous honesty" and truth as they obviously and ironically lie and connive. As Bens stepdad puts it: if he was black hed be in prison. Meanwhile, Holly goes to Maggie's mom for help, who gives her a med kit for reviving a person who has suffered an overdose and her car keys to go find Ben. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. . The cast and crew spent a significant amount of time in the Hudson Valley region. A young man and his mother argue in several scenes; the young man shoves his mother during one argument trying to get her to leave him. A drug addicted teenage boy shows up unexpectedly at his family's home on Christmas Eve. As is the cost of rent. As for Ben, hes 77 days clean. Let us get to the ending. All at their highest rate in 40 years. Furious, she takes him to the cemetery, asking him where he would like to be buried. Ben Is Back: Trailer 1 2:25 Added: October 11, 2018. Hollywood films about addiction tend to be tasteful, well-meaning awardsy dramas. It is all calculated emotional button-pushing. The plot follows a mother who tries to help her addict son after he returns home from rehab. But Ben leaves with Dollys car, which gets Dolly worried. Advertisement: "Ben Is Back" shifts into gear once mom and son leave the house for a trip to the. With the help of Liam and Lacey, Ben goes to the attic room and finds his old stash. At the mall another kid cheerfully greets him with Dude, I thought you were dead. At church he sees the mother of a girl who overdosed after he got her hooked. Since Mr. Richmonds wife had cancer, he could get all the prescription drugs. And the later scenes reveal that Ben has taken the drug nonetheless. There is a scene where Julia Roberts' car breaks down. Symmetry opens the film. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. Another scene shows Ben running into an old friend at the mall, who exclaims that he thought he was dead. She even takes a tour of the river, where they all end up at the dead of the night. They are the main couple of the film series.They first meet each other at the beginning of Descendants and they later started dating and became a couple. Subscribe to learn more about the movies you love! Issuu is a digital . Hedges film is stronger in its first half, when its an understated character drama, than in its second half, when it morphs into a contrived crime thriller. But once again, Roberts gives a gripping performance as a mother coming to new realizations about the child she thought she finally understood. Bens sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is all eye-rolling cynicism at this latest outbreak of sobriety. Ben tries to buy his dog back, but Clayton says Ben must do a drug run for him. Now, you may wonder where the film was shot. Ben and Holly talk and talk trying to gain understanding of the situation. The movie takes place over one day and a long night, so there's more discussed about Ben's history of drug use than actually seen. Hollys parental crisis is also a social crisis. Still, she hides her jewellery at the top of the wardrobe. Her son tries to start it but is unsuccessful. Theres this dangerous something coursing through him. Although Dolly has an outburst following this incident, she does not find the fresh batch she is looking for. and Ben's already shaky confidence takes a major hit. "Ben Is Back" hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. He leaves Ponce in the car with a note asking whoever finds it to call his mom. Lucas Hedges has to work a tricky balancing act of appearing. A young man speeds away from a gas station leaving his mother inside alone and with no ride. Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera. See also Ultimately, Roberts just seems miscast. Now, with Ben is Back, director Peter Hedges has created something a little bit different: a half-and-half movie with plenty of standard-issue addiction drama courtesy of Julia Roberts as a suburban mum trying to keep her 19-year-old son off opioids at Christmas.But other scenes are directed with the pure . The scale and depth of the horror are beyond anything she had imagined. It starts at the mall, where she sees the elderly physician whose painkiller prescription she blames for Bens habit, and where Ben crosses paths with an old acquaintance. The hometown is mundane and suburban, but the camera looks for an exit from nature, reinforcing the fostering image. But their journey is neither as harrowing nor as emotionally draining as the filmmaker thinks it is. Read More: Ben Is Back Ending, Explained: Is Ben Dead or Alive? Ben Is Back shifts into gear once mom and son leave the house for a trip to the mall. But shes also been burned enough times to know that she must quickly and quietly clean out the pills from her medicine cabinet and gather valuables from her jewelry box. Recent episodes in Anatomy of a. Ben sees his childhood friend, Spencer, also a drug addict. Her tics and her smile are overly familiar, but her performance does work when she is being empathetic. Ben assures his mother that his sponsor had OK'd his return. The storyline revolves around Ben Burns, an athlete dealing with opioid addiction. And Ben has a secret. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. How does any addict? Like her, I found myself constantly scanning Bens face: is he using again? All rights reserved. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Buy Tickets to Ben Is Back: https://www.fandango.com/ben-is-back-213738/movie-overview?cmp=CSYT_YouTube_DescWant to be notified of all the latest clips and behind the scenes footage? Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges are pictured filming a Scene for 'Ben is Back' at a shopping mall in White Plains, New York 03.01.2018 Advertisement. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Ive been with you the whole time. Excuse me! The girl at the meeting. And Ben going from cocky and confident to reduced and regressing in age and fearful and apologetic You think Im an idiot. All right. ben is back mall scene "Bennifer" is officially back! It is a big BUT uttered from Holly's tough love side. The film begins like a home invasion thriller as a young guy attempts to break into a house. A woman hands her son a cup and tells him to provide a urine sample for drug testing. As she follows Ben through an increasingly harrowing day and night, Holly gets a tour of an underworld that exists in the shadows of her sunny, stable reality. While we read all emails & try to reply we don't always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address. "ben is back" is filled with harshly poignant scenes, e.g., when holly goes cold at the very sight of the doctor who prescribed heavy doses of painkillers for ben when her son was 14, or when holly has a harrowing encounter with a childhood friend of ben's who has been ravaged by addiction and cries out, "i changed your diapers," and wonders how Hedges son, Lucaswho has put together a string of strong work in just the past couple of years between Manchester By the Sea, Lady Bird, Boy Erased and mid90sstars as the title character, a charismatic young man who radiates a combination of enthusiasm and understandable unease. Following Claytons order, Ben agrees to do the job, sticking several belts of drugs onto his body. But other scenes are directed with the pure suspense of a thriller. Inline image. The moments between Ben and Holly talking in the kitchen or tackling crowds at the mall during some last-minute shopping are the films strongest. The film begins when 19-year-old Ben Burns reappears in his house in Yonkers, New York, just in time for Christmas. A woman tells another woman, "You can't help them. Review: 'Ben Is Back' Takes A Wrong Turn Along The Way The first half is a tense, painfully real family drama about the lingering toll of opioid addiction; the second half lurches into thriller . And it works, mostly. She may be too deep in her own suffering, and the film may be too absorbed in her feelings, to grasp that fully. There is a didactic scene of Holly talking frankly to the doctor who got her son hooked on drugs, as if to excuse parental responsibility. - A young man is shown unconscious and his skin and lips are tinged blue; a woman gives him a drug trying to revive him and then does mouth-to-mouth and he starts breathing again. But Anastasia can be easily confused, I guess, so asks for a clear roadmap. It is as if he has come home from prep school, not rehab. What they dont say to each other is as important as what they do say. For the time, Ben only wants the dog back. Anyone can read what you share. He then says we need gas. Im Peter Hedges, writer and director of Ben Is Back. Ben Burns, played by Lucas Hedges, comes home unexpectedly on Christmas Eve Day. And hes with his mother Holly, played by Julia Roberts. We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. A young man twitches and complains of being sick as he pleads for money so he can buy drugs. However, with some help from Ben (he leaves Dollys phone number in the note outside the car), Dolly finds the vehicle parked by a house. Stuart Dryburgh of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty fame came on board as the director of photography. Her best moments have Holly making some questionable decisions, thoughher heart is in the right place. While eating at a diner, Ben tells Holly that he got a local girl, Maggie, hooked on drugs and is responsible for her death. This time will be different. A young man is agitated when he goes into his attic and says that he used to hide his drug stash there. Superheroes! Powered by WordPress.com VIP. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address. Her anger at Ben dragging her (and her family) into his mess comes and goes. The unit lensed scenes in St Johns Episcopal Church in Larchmont at 4 West Fountain Square. You can help us keep our independence with a donation. Bens a charmer and a talkerhell burst into a silly song to amuse the little onesand its clear that hes trying strenuously, as well, to make his return a happy one. It was a crucial junction in the filming schedule. His mother Holly (Roberts) beams as only Julia Roberts can beam, full megawatt dazzle delighted to see him. What Hedges wants to do here is make you feel the dread and nausea of a parent living with a teenage addict the prickle of fear walking into his bedroom. [6] In November, Kathryn Newton was cast as the titular Ben's sister Ivy,[7] and Alexandra Park joined as an addict Ben meets during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. An important filming location is Harriman State Park. On the contrary, what is so moving and effective about Robertss work here is her shrewd subversion of her long-established persona. Shes taken him Christmas shopping so hell have appropriate clothes to wear at church that night. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released on December 7, 2018, by LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, and Lionsgate. And then she checks him because she has concerns. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. As the winter darkness descends, mother and son enter an inferno of grieving parents, sexual predators, ruthless dealers and hollowed-out users. Shes taken him Christmas shopping so hell have appropriate clothes to wear at church that night. Happy to see him but Holly is also wary, as she does not want his instability to affect the other children. Realizing it is to do with him, Ben leaves the house to find him. Hedges fares even worse. Dolly heads to a store to change the kit since it has expired, but they do not deal with such medications. On a trip to . Menu. Peter Hedges, whose previous features as a director are Pieces of April, Dan in Real Life and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, keeps his sentimental tendencies on ice here. Holly has two kids with her second husband ( Courtney B. Vance) in addition to Ben and his younger sister, Ivy ( Kathryn Newton ), from her first. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. His Mother Holly is ecstatic, as are his young step-siblings. the Oscars deepest and most dynamic race. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe. "One of the 50 Coolest Websitesthey simply tell it like it is" - TIME, The current economic climate has reduced our revenues. Lucas Hedges, like Timothe Chalamet in Beautiful Boy, the seasons other alliteratively titled tale of a young man fighting a drug habit, deftly captures the nuances of this condition. How much more damage will he do, to them and to himself? Even after the menacing, hooded figure skulking around near the driveway is recognized as a son and brother (played by Lucas Hedges), the queasy feeling of terror doesnt quite abate. We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we accept compliments too. [11] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018. 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