Louder Than Bombs (2016)

No likable characters, or at least, all the male characters - Jonah, Gene and Conrad, which were the leads really, are really not all that personable.The characters are somewhat irritating, and their inability to communicate with each other extends all the way past the fourth wall, to the viewer.It's very difficult to feel empathy for an adulterer, a disrespectful weirdo and a spineless man. Sympathy maybe, but, empathy was just too arduous.And sure, Louder Than Bombs was attempting a portrayal of raw and actual real life experience in front of a camera... But sadly, real life can be quite boring to watch.I do however like that Jonah gave Conrad the advice he gave him about his (Conrad) love interest, that Conrad narrated that his love interest would forget about him the next day after their early morning walk and that Gene and Hannah's relationship ended the way it did, because all of that, like it or not, is usually how life turns out for the average man, and Louder Than Bombs didn't uncharacteristically abandon that sad truth.But, this film was a bit taxing, though, it had all the best intentions. 5/10.

Trier's English-languaged debut has been praised by many, but NOT by me. This is the essence of mediocrity: forgettable, not moving, not interesting, not dramatic. There is really no point to this. The cinematography is beautiful, the editing is quite inspired and interesting, but the script is awfully bland and the otherwise fantastic actors and actresses are wasted and utilized in a horrid way. Eisenberg is just plain old Eisenberg; Byrne can't save his character; and worst of all: Huppert is reduced to a boring character with no real depth or energy. It's all so incredibly lame. There are a few subplots in it, but it doesn't feel like it has a real plot or story that can drive the additions. Besides, the entire thing with the youngest son is that he likes to play Skyrim and he writes bad poetry that brings him success with a girl (realistic much??). This entire premise is horrible and made me sad for whoever wrote this uninspired crap: it's a big bowl of nothing. It's worse than nothing, it's boring, a void, a complete waste of time and Huppert. I hated it and almost couldn't finish it. Besides, a bunch of morals to the story did bother me: none of the characters are likable, but I feel like they were meant to be. The journey is not a journey, but a stagnant and static group of characters in a dull setup. It's not bad. It's just mediocre. Incredibly mediocre. Normally, the quite impressive productive forces behind a movie like this can make it count, but this one will be forgotten completely in five years - only remembered by the handful of people that could relate to one of the characters. I couldn't... Five out of ten. And maybe four on a bad day.

After watching this film my first reaction was that the story isn't about the family (father, sons, wife) and their emotional needs but about what the mothers photographs fails to convey and emanate to the viewer.In this movie it is easy to empathize and sympathize with the family's tragic loss of their mother, the solitude and loneliness felt by the youngest son Conrad, the fathers need for companionship and to communicate with someone his own age and the frustration he feels because Conrad seems to have rejected him, and the oldest son Jonah having to juggle the death of his mother and being a new father and far away from his wife and newborn. Life and death are at conflict here! These are moving talking people; we see them as living beings. BUT in the mothers photography we are only given still images of people who are suffering and unable to communicate with the viewer outside of the viewers imagination. Still images cannot have the same effect as moving talking living beings.The mothers photography showing the dispossessed and their pained faces and suffering bodies becomes art. Pleasure can be found in art! But in real life pain accompanies pleasure. A two dimensional photo of people in distant locals cannot be louder than bombs. Only the living and daily life can be louder than bombs.This film is so finely crafted, scripted, acted, that endless discussion can be made from it.

Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes we just can't "get over it". Three years after a war photographer dies in a suspicious car accident, her husband and two sons find themselves in various states of emotional distress. Everyone deals with guilt in their own way, but these three seem to be doing anything and everything to avoid actually dealing with the emotional fallout.Writer/director Joachim Trier (Oslo, August 31) delivers his first English-speaking film with an assist from co-writer Eskil Vogt and a terrific cast. As we would expect from Mr. Trier, it's a visually stylish film with some stunning images … and the timeline is anything but simple as we bounce from past to present, and from the perspective of different characters (sometimes with the same scene).The creativity involved with the story telling and technical aspects have no impact whatsoever on the pacing. To say that the film is meticulously paced would be a kind way of saying many viewers may actually get restless/bored with how slowly things move at times. Trier uses this pacing to help us experience some of the frustration and discomfort that each of the characters feel.Isabelle Huppert plays the mother/wife in some wonderful flashback and dream-like sequences, while Gabriel Byrne plays her surviving husband. Jesse Eisenberg as Jonah, and Devin Druid as Conrad are the sons, and as brothers they struggle to connect with each other … just as the father struggles to connect with each of them. In fact, it's a film filled with characters who lie to each other, lie to themselves, and lie to others. It's no mystery why they are each miserable in their own way. The suppressed emotions are at times overwhelming, and it's especially difficult to see the youngest son struggle with social aspects of high school … it's a spellbinding performance from Devin Druid ("Olive Kitteridge").Jesse Eisenberg manages to tone down his usual hyper-obnoxious mannerisms, yet still create the most unlikable character in the film … and that's saying a lot. Mr. Byrne delivers a solid performance as the Dad who is quite flawed, and other supporting work is provided by David Strathairn and Amy Ryan. The shadow cast by this woman is enormous and deep … and for nearly two hours we watch the family she left behind come to grips with her death and each other. It's a film done well, but only you can decide if it sounds like a good way to spend two hours.