By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jaron Albertin
Starring: Alessandro Nivola | Eli Haley | Johnny Knoxville | Julianne Nicholson | K. Todd Freeman | Phoebe Young
Country: united_states
Year: 2018
Running time: 93
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3745058/reference
Michael says: “WEIGHTLESS is notable to me for giving the handsome and talented Alessandro Nivola a challenging leading role as Joel, a troubled man working in a landfill in rural America. There’s reference to mental illness, and an occasional explosion of violence that lends a shroud of worry over the entire film when his ex-wife runs off leaving Joel to care for his 10-year-old son, Will, played by newcomer Eli Haley, whom he has never met. Will is gravely overweight and has some medical issues of his own. At first things look like Joel will get the help he needs from his current ladyfriend, Janeece, played wonderfully by Julianne Nicholson, but things don’t turn out so great there either.There’s a friendly young girl Carla played by Phoebe Young, who lives next door and befriends Will, but she certainly can’t help take care of him, and in fact, probably does puts him slightly in danger when she tries to help out. The acting is uniformly strong, especially from Nivola, Nicholson, and Johnny Knoxville, who puts in a rough yet sympathetic turn as Joel’s boss.
“Director Jaron Albertin seems more interested in mood than plot, and for me, that serves the film well. It’s somber, slow-paced and achingly melancholy, all things I love in a movie, and beautifully shot as well. Definitely worth a watch if that’s your jam. 4 cats”
Julie responds: “I agree with Michael’s review and thought this was a great film. The lead and supp actress perfs were excellent. It was very melancholy for sure as one would expect given the circumstances. I loved the relationship between Will and the neighbor Carla and thought Phoebe Young was very good in that role.
“One point of note since I just saw this film and have been paying attention to the music, it had a lot of good music and could have been nominated for that. Another film with great use of music was A SIMPLE FAVOR (not eligible!) but excellent movie! 4.5 cats“