In movies, it’s almost a given that the more picture-perfect the family, the more screwed-up its members. In support of this, I give you “Blackbird,” a right-to-die drama so inauthentic and maudlin that the terminal illness suffered by its central character is no more than a suction device for the audience’s tears.
Unwilling to wait until her degenerative disease renders her vegetative, Lily (Susan Sarandon) has invited the family to her swanky Connecticut beach house for a farewell weekend before pulling the plug. Her husband (Sam Neill, in a role so vague it could have been played by a stuffed cardigan) is supportive, and their assorted offspring — already apprised of her plans — will dutifully endure the faux-Christmas celebration Lily has set her heart on. (Way to ruin everyone’s Christmas from here on out, Lily.)
As Christian Torpe’s perfunctory screenplay (adapted from the 2014 Danish film “Silent Heart”) portions out the bonding and bickering, the director, Roger Michell, has rarely seemed so detached. The characters are so flimsy, and so wearyingly familiar — the grandson who shocks the dinner table by announcing his acting aspirations; the uptight older sister (Kate Winslet) who disapproves of her directionless younger sibling (Mia Wasikowska) and her nonbinary partner — that Michell is incapable of giving their conflicts life.
Sarandon can sell this pablum in her sleep, and she does. With every edge carefully buffed off (there’s not even a serious conversation about euthanasia), “Blackbird” buries the one plot point, featuring Lily’s oldest friend (played by the wonderful Lindsay Duncan), that might have unearthed some real emotion. What’s left is a movie that’s mostly a drag — and, shockingly, not because of the subject matter.
Blackbird
Rated R for relaxed toking and frantic copulating. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Google Play, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
