Jack and I loved this movie wherein a single father and his six home-schooled kids are suddenly forced to leave the wilderness and come to grips with civilization. Viggo Mortensen (last blogged in On the Road) teaches his merry band of four teenagers (George MacKay, most recently in Pride; Annalise Basso; Samantha Isler; and Nicholas Hamilton) and two little ones (Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell) (all six are terrific, experienced actors) to hunt and grow their own food, read extensively, and "stick it to the man!" "The man" is represented by Frank Langella (last in these pages for Draft Day) as the the kids' grandfather. His kinder, gentler wife is well done by Ann Dowd (wonderful in Olive Kittredge and Masters of Sex).
This is the second movie directed and written by Matt Ross, best known to me for playing Alby on Big Love and Gavin on Silicon Valley (both characters were sociopaths, by the way). Here he has crafted a moving story and paced it just right.
The sometimes trippy music is by Alex Somers, a visual artist who occasionally plays music with his life partner Jon Thor (Jónsi) Birgisson (of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós) under the moniker Alex & Jónsi. You can sample the entire soundtrack from this link, as I am doing as I write. If you have an hour, listen to the whole thing on soundcloud.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are warmly appreciating the merits of this, averaging 78 and 85%, respectively. We highly recommend it.
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