Captain Fantastic,
directed by Matt Ross
(R, 1 hour 58 minutes)
The smug competence of an experienced and confident living-off-the grid dad with six hardy kids smacks headlong into reality in Captain Fantastic, a worthwhile survivalist tale that thrives on intelligent dialogue and strong characters.
At the helm of the Cash family is Ben (played with power by Viggo Mortensen in an example of perfect casting), who's raising his offspring ages 7-18 in a survivalist tepee located deep in the Oregon woods. No electricity, no running water, no sewers, with mealtimes dependent on what's being harvested nearby (flora and fauna). The group spends its time in intense daily physical training, focused education concentrating on philosophy and anti-capitalism, and firelit evenings where everybody is reading, earnestly conversing, and making relatively decent music.
The scene is pretty idyllic until it becomes clear that missing from the clan's portrait is mother Leslie (Trin Miller), whose unexpectedly tragic illness forces the Cashes to clamber into an ancient bus and head across the country to the home of Leslie's parents (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd), who don't approve of Ben's methods and yearn to take on the raising of their grandchildren.
A standoff is inevitable.
Paying attention to the first two-thirds of the film is rewarding as the kids -- particularly the oldest, curious and awkward Bo (George MacKay), who respects his dad but yearns to escape the wilderness and go to college -- struggle to interpret their skewed view of the modern world and hang on to their unique sensibilities as taught to them by their parents. If only the film hadn't taken the easy way out at the end with a compromise that feels agreeable but abandons the razor-sharp cleverness that brought it to this point in favor of a conclusion that borders on sentimental.
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MovieStyle on 10/28/2016