The Glass Castle

The book is wonderful, one of my favourite and most memorable reads in recent years. It was thought-provoking, harrowing and poignant, with a chillingly troubled but complex portrayal of dysfunctional family life. So there were high expectations on that front, as well as that a great cast were involved.

Seeing 'The Glass Castle' last night, it is a pretty well done film on its own terms despite a few faults. On the other hand, it is very understandable why it has been said that as an adaptation it is mishandled. Although always striving to judge a film adaptation always as a standalone, if asked which is better between the book and the film the answer's a no brainer. The book feels much more balanced and more complex and the ending rang true far more. Although 'The Glass Castle' has a huge amount to recommend and is better than some of the mixed critical reception suggests (personal opinion), its ending and some tonal issues are its biggest faults.

Particularly in the case of the ending. Not just because it is drenched in sentimentality that is hard even for the strongest of stomachs. Even more so because things feel wrapped up too tidily and patly, the ending is far more realistic in the source material and should have made it on film, definitely would have preferred something more daring than a conclusion that really did not ring true and felt tacked on. Another issue with the ending is that we are told up to the end one thing about Rex and Rose Mary, and it is so overwhelming in evidence that it's easy to believe, then at the end it does a complete 180 degrees and it was just hard to buy.

While not as problematic, things do get a little melodramatic in places and the point of view of the film is somewhat too one-sided, with much more development to Rose Mary and showing her as equally accountable there would have been more complexity.

However, 'The Glass Castle' is a beautifully shot film and the production values are never less than top drawer. The music is neither too intrusive or too low-key and the direction is skillful visually, handles most of the tonal and time shifts well and with good attention to making the portrayal of the family as real as possible.

Script flows naturally and is thought-provoking and nuanced. The story has its problems, but mostly it is very compelling, hard-hitting and pathos-filled. It's particularly good in its careful balance of laughter and tears, the intense but also profound understanding of the central father-daughter bond and in the twisted but troubled portrayal of the dysfunctional family. Apart from Rose Mary being underwritten and underused, the characters are more than archetypal clichés, Jeannette is especially well realised.

Woody Harrelson gives a courageously gutsy performance as a pretty reprehensible human being, while Brie Larson's Jeanette is powerfully conflicted. All the children are well cast, with Ella Anderson in particular being an absolute revelation. Naomi Watts does a very good job with what she has.

In conclusion, adaptation-wise it is mishandled and the ending really doesn't ring true at all, but it's a well made emotional roller-coaster with a believable portrayal of dysfunctional family life and stellar performances deserving of some kind of award recognition (Harrelson, Larson and Anderson in particular). 7/10 Bethany Cox

This may not be a movie to watch if you were raised in a dysfunctional family. It may bring back unpleasant memories as it did for me. I had to first read some of the critic reviews to see if their reactions were like mine. They were to a large degree. The problem lies with the premise that such bad parents as the Walls, can somehow at movies end have a happy face put on it. Make no mistake, this is an unpleasant movie featuring first rate actors trying to make a flawed screen adaptation work. Ella Anderson is the star of the movie, but Woody Harrelson plays such a bad dad, it is hard to buy into the sympathetic ending. Brie Larson is good but her playing the adult Jeanette Walls is the less interesting part of the story.

One of The Glass Castle's strongest aspects is how it takes an experience unique to a small amount of people, and makes it so relatable to the masses. 99% of the people watching this movie have not had an upbringing like Jeanette's, but the film crafts the story in a way that you can form parallels to your own life. This isn't just telling the story of someone's childhood; it becomes a commentary on the ups and downs of family life itself. And that's where The Glass Castle becomes something more profound. Some may have seen this relatability as a simplification of child abuse. But I would disagree. The movie never painted what happened in the film as a good thing. It never tried to spin that the parents for justified for how they chose to raise their kids. Instead, they showed that, when you boil it all down, the dysfunction between Jeanette and her parents stem from the same place as other people's parental issues. Instead of isolating the audience by showing us something completely and utterly foreign to us, they chose to make it relatable so that we could draw comparisons to our own lives...

"Your values are all confused." Rex (Woody Harrelson)

Fortunate we all are to have families that dysfunction in even small ways because they provide us with stories for a lifetime. Such is writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton's The Glass Castle, a story based on Jeannette Wells's (Brie Larson) family, overloaded by a dad, Rex,whose outsized personality, big brain, and capacity for booze dominates the four children through their adult years.

The commendable element infused by writers Cretton and Andrew Lanham is the realism enfolding odd characters, where bad things happen when dad drinks and kids have to forage for food while dad shrinks their little lives as he drinks. Having no food for days is not unusual for the Wells family, due to dad's drinking up their meager holdings. However, the kids learn how to survive, a commendable achievement in a dependent world, even in later 20th century.

Jeannette's and Rex's relationship is the ballast of this sometimes surreal film; artist mother Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) is too busy painting to be bothered with their hunger or dad's ranting. Jeannette's early accident with the stove is a visceral reminder that the bohemian life can hold some dangerous consequences.

Yet Rose's artistry is probably a source for Jeannette's writing excellence as dad's verbal fluidity is. Although he's the smartest man his daughter ever knew, he just doesn't stop talking. The film very smartly lets us see the dark and light sides of the characters, not unbefitting a West Virginia where talking is like breathing—colorful and crass but you have to do it to survive.

The central motif of the title is the glass castle Rex hoped to build, an energy efficient beauty with glass all around to let Nature in without letting the rough invade. Well, it never gets built, and the world does intrude. Happy for us because it's a great story, just like our own.

While the reconciliation at the end seems too neatly tied up, most of the film has a grit to remind us that although family is not always fair, it may be the best life has to offer.

'THE GLASS CASTLE': Four Stars (Out of Five)

The new drama adapted from the 2005 memoir (of the same name) by Jeannette Walls, based on her experiences growing up in a poor dysfunctional family. The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (who also helmed the 2013 critical darling 'SHORT TERM 12'), and it was written by Cretton and Andrew Lanham. The movie stars Brie Larson (who also starred in 'SHORT TERM 12'), Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson, Chandler Head and Max Greenfield. The film has received mixed reviews from critics, and it's performed modestly at the Box Office so far. I found it to be a little too long, and slow-paced, but it's mostly a very moving and enjoyable film.

The story is told from Jeannette's (Larson) point of view, as an adult, as she recollects on growing up as a child in extreme poverty. Her mother, Rose Mary (Watts), was an eccentric artist, and her father, Rex (Harrelson), was a free-spirited alcoholic. Jeannette, and her three siblings, were constantly forced to move, and often times they didn't have enough to eat, or ideally safe conditions to live in. The whole time Rex filled the children's heads with unrealistic hopes and dreams of a better life.

The movie is filled with one heartbreaking scene after another, I cried multiple times throughout the entire film. Larson plays the central character in it (as an adult), but Harrelson actually has far more screen time; and he's the real star of the movie (in my opinion) as well. As flawed a character as he is, Harrelson's character is also (in some ways) the most relatable, at least for me, due to his dreams and generally positive outlook on life. The film has many great moments in it too, but it seems to lose it's way at times, and it's sometimes a pain to sit through (due to it's pacing). 'SHORT TERM 12' is definitely a much better film, but this movie had a lot of potential to it. I think it's definitely still worth seeing.

Watch an episode of our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/j_XDrmlMJNY