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Bleeding Love Review

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Ewan McGregor and his daughter, Clara McGregor, shine together in Bleeding Love, a profoundly heavy film which lasts an hour and forty-two minutes. The heartache weaves through the aches and pains surrounding the difficult subject of overdosing and relapsing. The film’s writing is poetic to the core and helps maintain an atmosphere which is enticing yet shocking at the same time. Ultimately, the connection grows through the struggles in Bleeding Love. Directed by Emma Westenberg and co-written by Clara, the story is carefully crafted and covers both past and present times. The dramatics soar while sorrow finds its light in Bleeding Love.

The film’s introduction is intense. The audience knows the turmoil comes from a hard place of dealing with crucial, life-threatening moments. Ewan’s daughter has just recovered from an overdose and has fallen under the responsibility of her father, a recovered alcoholic with a rough past. He is trying to do the best he can to give his daughter the support she needs. The conflicts explode due to his daughter’s issues with alcoholism, drugs, and all kinds of detrimental behaviors. This leads the father to take his daughter on a road trip to help her get clean. The road trip is a tough journey especially because of their difficult pasts that have led to some irreparable consequences and heartbreaking moments. Despite the challenges, there is light that is hidden beneath the surface of all the heartbreak in Bleeding Love. The hardest moment is when the father tells his daughter, “You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive!” However, the question is if he can truly be there for her.

The film is rather heavy and a lot to take in. I give the film credit for using frequent flashbacks of both the father and daughter to provide context. The flashbacks are of both good times and bad in the past and present. A key factor in Bleeding Love is that there is a sense of purpose and a drive for resolution. Unfortunately, frustration, hatred, relapse, and addiction create massive barriers in resolving the serious issues faced by the lead characters.

There is a true moment of connection that spoke to me in Bleeding Love. It happens when Ewan is singing with Clara. Both are feeling a loving attachment as two people struggling during an unlikely time of their lives. They both play their roles so well and so deeply that it makes the audience wish for a positive outcome for this struggling pair. With relapse being a constant concern, the writing is poignant when it comes to the real and profound stressors. The story is authentic in portraying how love and truth hurts. It is also shows how challenging it isto accept human errors that have impacted others. The damage done by the crippling relationship in Bleeding Love impacted me personally as it hit close to home. I have also experienceddisconnect in my life, and the story reminded me of how even those who have hurt us in life may still play a role in reminding us that we matter.

This melancholy film is also a treacherous and uplifting experience in which a father and daughter are trying to find the missing pieces. Ultimately, it is about Ewan playing the father of his real-life daughter, Clara, and helping her to overcome her addiction to drugs. Will they make it work? Is Clara strong enough? Can the past be in left in the past? Find out in Bleeding Love. It is hard to take in, but a cinematic work-of-art. Three out of four stars.

58th Chicago International Film Festival, Film reviews

58th Chicago International Film Festival: Raymond and Ray Review

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Films that gear on siblings and struggles appeal to me deeply. They typically involve elements that are either harsh or easy to dismiss. Raymond and Ray are focused on brotherhood. It is a touching and inviting comedy which does not shine a light too brightly on its dark subject matter. I found it to be a compassionate film about two brothers reconnecting.

Director Rodrigo Garcia knows how to challenge culture and family dynamics in Raymond and Ray. His authenticity in directing correlates with his HBO series In Treatment (2008-2021). Garcia directed many of the episodes of In Treatment back when Gabriel Byrne was the main psychologist. Garcia always knew how to capture what hurts people. The concept of challenging truths of family and their underlying issues is where Garcia pinpoints the central struggles with Raymond and Ray.

In the film, Ethan Hawke is Ray and Ewan McGregor is Raymond, and their father has died. The main characters are half-brothers. They come together to get the funeral for their father set-up. The funeral must be carried out according to their father’s wishes. With the difficult task of having to dig their father’s grave, the brothers find themselves struggling with frustration and hatred towards their father.

The performances of Hawke and McGregor are surreal and touching. Hawke’s character is about having his cultured musical side, but sadly he could not hold down a job. McGregor’s character is an individual with a DUI record and issues with his wife and kids although those issues do not enter the film very much. The film focuses primarily on the brothers and how they deal with the funeral. The way the movie portrays them coming together to deal with an issue that is sad, stressful, and emotional makes Raymond and Ray especially powerful. The fact that life is not fair is a fact that both brothers grapple with.

Raymond and Ray will make viewers laugh and cry. While there is some resolution in the film, the major flaws of both brothers are a difficult subject matter. The film is dramatic throughout and despite its sadness, it has meaning. Three and a half stars.