The Living (2014)

Why sit through this whole thing when we as an audience don't give a crap about any of the characters? They are all equally worthless...The villain is a wonderful actor. The lighting and mood are fine, but when we go to the movies what we really want is emotion. To feel, to care. And I couldn't have cared less about the stupid brother or anyone else in The Living. I guess it is a reflection of our culture that movies like this get financed, and made. How does this happen? There is zero subplot, zero nuance, and zero depth of character. It's like a silly ghost story that my 5 year old would tell, only she'd finish it quickly enough not to make me feel like my time had been stolen. Save yourself for actual movies. Maybe other ones that Chris Mulkey is in...since he's really worth watching. Just not in this.Amateur hour and a half.

'The Living' is about unintended consequences arising from difficult decisions clouted by complicated personalities and troubled minds. It is a nice indie dark movie, with several highlights but some compromising flaws.Acting is surprisingly good, with actors punching way above their weight. This his the highlight of the movie. The slow scenes with agonizing seconds of silences give them a dark and deep vibe, and the actors nail it, looking natural and very comfortable on screen.The context of the story plot is very cliché, however, as it revolves about the struggles of a battered woman and her alcoholic husband who loves-her-even-though-he-hit-her. Strangely, the lack of character development isn't that much detrimental on 'The Living' as it would be in many other movies, as the focus quickly shifts to the mental state and how the characters process the situation they got themselves involved with, instead of just re-telling a worn-out and over-used simple story line. Finally, editing seems to be hurried up, as it is the case of so many otherwise promising indie productions, unfortunately. As I mentioned, many individual scenes are harrowing, deep and engaging, but the transitions don't work that well, which is frustrating.I give 'The Living' a 6/10 score, realizing I'm averaging some very good marks with poor ones. Having so much quality disparity is what, in my opinion, makes the difference between some other reviews here that swing from critical 3s to glowing 9s and 10s.

this movie overall was a great movie,, but there is story line I feel like no one really caught but I could just be going crazy. spoilers start here. what I really believe the story actually is is that the wife faked the whole thing. I believe she drugged her husband, and put make up on to appear like she'd been beaten. she took his ring and put some on his hands. in the beginning, look how ready she was to come back home. her husband said he couldn't find his ring, and she had it the whole time. look how willing she was to let him come back for intensive chores like remodeling her house and landscaping the yard. she stated in the middle of the movie that he will just have to make it up to her every day for the rest of their lives. She wanted a relationship where she was pampered and treated like a queen. she wanted to go to a restaurant that all their friends went to so she could gain that much more power over the situation. it's ironic that the brother hired someone to kill his brother in law when it was his sisters faking. I thought it was very strange how willing, how passive the husband was. in the end when the husband was killed, it looked as if she was remorseful also because she finally had what she wanted from her marriage. this makes more sense to me than simply her husband actually beating her and the story going from there. does anyone else feel this way ?

I saw this film at the Tallgrass Film Festival, and it was excellent. Jack Bryan really knows how to write a compelling tale, and the film ends in a way that Hollywood could never deliver. There's a well-established sense of the world that the characters inhabit, and it never feels like a low-budget production. There are several long dialog takes that are thoroughly impressive performances. It's good to see Fran Kranz in a serious role, as he totally sells the character. Hopefully this acts as a showcase for more dramatic projects. I was unfamiliar with Jocelin Donahue, but will definitely keep an eye out for her in other films. Chris Mulkey is a beast, and absolutely kills it. The people involved in making this movie are clearly talented and passionate individuals, and I can't wait to see what they bring to the table next.