SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Chxface Movie Review!!!The Living (2014) Starring no one you'd know by name but may have seen here & there. This guy wakes up after a bender where he blacks out. He discovers he beat the living crap out of his wife but doesn't remember it. Her brother is a total loser and a meek little dweeb. Probably because he's really emotionally beaten down by his loser mom. He decides to hire a hit man to kill his brother in law. Now, this whole process & his relationship with the hit-man is super stressful. The hit-man keeps telling him he's too much of a coward to do this himself so he pays someone to do it. Albeit true, it's just another person telling him what a POS he is. There's no dancing around the ending. Bang. Done. Grade: B+ although I gave away the story, is still recommend it.

Peter Pluymers What I do isn't about the people that die. It's about the people that are left alive. They get the short end of the stick, as far as I'm concerned. "The Living" is a basic revenge film in which the reprisal turns out quite differently than initially intended. A social drama about domestic violence and alcoholism, although I started wondering after a while how critical this alcohol problem was. The evolution to this violent abuse wasn't discussed. How could it come to this? Were there already signs of an oncoming problem? And were there cases of domestic violence already in the past? You're kept in the dark when it comes to these relevant considerations.The first image, accompanied by music from The de Luca Brothers, is that of some empty beer bottles scattered around on the ground and an unconscious Teddy (Fran Kranz), who apparently is sleeping it off. Upon awakening he finds out he has a bloody hand and his wedding ring is missing, after which he becomes aware something terrible happened the previous night. The fact that his young wife Molly (Jocelin Donahue) is no longer present in the house, confirms his suspicion. Molly has fled to her parents' home where her mother Angela (Joelle Carter) and brother Gordon (Kenny Wormald) still live. When Teddy arrives there and Molly returns with him despite everything that happened, Angela threatens to use her shotgun and shoot Teddy. Simultaneously she's also furious about Gordon defending his sister in a lax way. Mad about what happened to his sister, Gordon takes the advice of a workmate (who knows someone who also knows someone else who could teach a person a lesson), and he goes looking for this person to solve the problem once and for all.Unfortunately this is, despite some brilliant performances, a fairly banal story with a predictable storyline and no surprising conclusion. The whole film actually just shows the emotional relationship between a few people. First, the fragile and broken relationship between Molly and Teddy. Molly makes it clear to Teddy that he has to do everything to make up for the incurred suffering. What bothered me in this part of the story, was twofold. Teddy doesn't really resemble a typical alcoholic who tends to use violence against his wife. He looks remarkably fresh after an evening of heavy drinking (with a solid blackout as a result) and seemingly he doesn't have problems with staying away from booze. And Molly didn't need much time to forgive him again. Teddy didn't have to pay enormously for his actions. But I'm convinced this is most common in this kind of situations.The second relationship arising in this film is that between the timid, uncertain Gordon and Howard (Chris Mulkey), the psychopathic killer who isn't afraid of murdering someone for a few dollars. This subtle interplay between these two opposites was the most fascinating of the whole movie. Magisterial acted by both. The realization that slowly grows to Gordon that he may have took the wrong decision. Howard is someone who is straightforward and clearly takes matters in hand to finalize it. There's a key moment in a restaurant where I thought the film was going to escalate into a spiral of violence. But to my surprise it remained to that single moment and the impact was limited to the fact that Gordon was more uncertain and scared to dead of Howard. Mulkey is brilliant as the crazy killer. Top performance.But as I mentioned earlier, these superb performances can't cover up that the essential substance of this film is kind of feeble. A succession of obvious events and a simple story with no undue risks taken. Domestic violence is usually a complex psychological story. In "The Living" this is elaborated rather simplistic. Even the injuries Molly had after the quarrel, didn't exactly look realistic (it was more a result of a makeup party that got out of hand). Thanks to the charismatic Mulkey, this film was worth to watch. More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

Theo Robertson A young husband Teddy beats up his wife Molly . Disgusted by this Molly's brother Gordon puts a plan of revenge in to action that leads to consequences !!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!! A independent film from writer /director Jack Bryan who might be worth keeping an eye on . Being an indie film it lacks big names , big budget and is a little slow but this is more than compensated by the performances and a subtext that an eye for an eye leads to universal blindness . When Gordon hires Howard the hit-man I did think we'd be seeing a plot turn where Teddy goes back to beating up Molly therefore any violence inflicted upon him is entirely justified . This predcibility doesn't happen however and is the better for it as Teddy pulls out all the stops to make things back up to Molly. . Most of the structure takes place via dual plotting where one half of the plot concentrates on Teddy and Molly's relationship woes and the other half on Gordon and Howard . There is a slight bugbear to some of this such as why would a hit-man allow a client to visit his home and you're aware this is simply to set up the ending . In other words it's a bit too mechanical to be overly successful but as a dramatic thriller it's not unimpressive

quincytheodore The title aptly portrays the life of ordinary folks, with all the familiar problems or flaws one expect from them. It shows domestic issues and mundane stuffs in a patient pace, yet the delivery of characters feels so genuinely inviting. Good script and acting make these unassuming characters easily identifiable while presenting twists so bizarre they might just be unnervingly realistic.After what seems to be a domestic violence, Teddy (Fran Kranz) and Molly (Jocelyn Donahue) are not in the best terms. The debacle disturbs Molly's brother Gordon (Kenny Wormald), who has timid personality but is highly determined to resolve the situation. Each character tries to overcome the issue but with much different means, the couple might attempt to sort it out between themselves, but Gordon opts for much dangerous path of hiring a hit-man.It plays out in solemn tone, occasionally switching between trivial matters and risky shady business. Fran Kranz is pretty convincing as the remorseful husband. Heartfelt apology, some humor and compromising nature make him a more likable guy than expected. As for the wife, Jocelin Donahue delivers a very compassionate performance. She remains strong yet it is her weaknesses which serendipitously create a compelling and deep character.Both of them look excessively normal, though in some subtle ways the movie keeps the audience guessing if the forgiveness is warranted. Meanwhile Kenny Wormald looks frightened and confused as he steps outside his comfort zone, meeting the hit-man Howard (Chris Mulkey). As the least confrontational character, Gordon is put in situations he fears the most, especially when Howard is exceptionally aggressive. Gordon seems cowardice and reluctant, though he has a sincere nature which could appeal to the audience. Howard, on the other hand, is incredibly antagonistic, just giving malicious intent with every word spewed.Cinematography produces a somber view of their lives. Using backdrop of mostly rural town it looks modestly slick. Much of the scenes are people dining as the camera shoots them from the side and occasionally pans. The visual lets the actors deliver their emotional lines in laid back manner, when the twists occur the quaint ambiance actually produces more impact. This is a relatively slow thriller, but it is never tedious.The Living presents an intimate look of the characters' lives, so close to home it's both disturbing and also absorbing.