But even a scene set the safe space of a 12-step meeting, where Ben cracks jokes and tries to earn sympathy,comes off as disingenuous. With the bathroom door opened- despite his protest. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. It was a crucial junction in the filming schedule. If you feel like encountering Bens outcome, let us give it a try. Review: 'Ben Is Back' Takes A Wrong Turn Along The Way The first half is a tense, painfully real family drama about the lingering toll of opioid addiction; the second half lurches into thriller . Ben, unexpectedly home from rehab, scares almost everyone. The scale and depth of the horror are beyond anything she had imagined. Holly follows in her car, finding Ben in a nearby neighborhood. business Retail. They start in very different places from where they end up. That evening, the family returns home from church to find that someone has broken into their home and taken Ponce. There is a didactic scene of Holly talking frankly to the doctor who got her son hooked on drugs, as if to excuse parental responsibility. The film opens as he returns from his stint at rehab on Christmas Eve. On the contrary, what is so moving and effective about Robertss work here is her shrewd subversion of her long-established persona. The constant push-pull between Hedges and Roberts, the see-saw of the power dynamic as each tries to navigate this thorny situation, is the most compelling element of Ben Is Back. All the demons are still there, all the memories and the things Ben cant remember. The spacious house is bustling with excitement and preparations for the kids performances at Christmas Eve mass. Ben Is Back Pits a Dazzling Julia Roberts Against the Opioid Scourge Alan Scherstuhl December 18, 2018 9:00AM In Ben Is Back, Julia Roberts (left) stars as Holly Burns, an ordinary. - About 31 F-words and its derivatives, 22 scatological terms (1 mild), 3 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (liar, phony, stupid, junkie, drug addict), exclamations (shut-up, freaking out), 4 religious profanities, 19 religious exclamations (e.g. Im Peter Hedges, writer and director of Ben Is Back. Ben Burns, played by Lucas Hedges, comes home unexpectedly on Christmas Eve Day. On a trip to . The suspense is generated by a deceptively simple question, one that haunts most stories of addiction: Will Ben use again? A young man chases another young man out of a diner, he shoves him against a wall and into a pile of garbage bags and the young man on the ground gets up and punches the other young man in the face and then runs away. This movie chronicles 24 hours in the life of a family after the oldest son comes home from rehab one Christmas eve. She wants to support and protect her beloved oldest child without endangering or alienating the rest of the family, and in spite of everything that has happened she still has unwavering faith in her own maternal powers. Support our vendors to earn as much as they can and give them a fighting chance this Winter. Oh My God, God, Jesus, Heaven Help You, Holy [scatological term deleted]). A young man smokes from a vaping device in a few scenes (outside and in a car). Unlike the MPAA we do not assign one inscrutable rating based on age but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE & LANGUAGE on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest depending on quantity & context |more|, Print a page, share with friends, and yes, please go ahead and email links. Later still, Dolly and Ben go garment shopping, and seeing Ben in possession of the drug, the guards throw them out of the mall. But from Spencer, Ben gets a lead about the home invasion incident. Acclaimed director Peter Hedges ('Dan In Real Life') reared the 2018 familial micro-drama movie 'Ben Is Back' starring his son Lucas Hedges (' Manchester by the Sea '). A young man talks about having an arrangement with his history teacher for drugs (possible sexual activity is implied). How much should my pay rise to beat inflation? Stars: Dan Russell, Teresa Gallagher, Kerry Shale, Kyla Rae Kowalewski. Putin's forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting . But thats what Holly (and Hedges) does. human shock collars for sale vampire movies 1940s movie themed team names. The demon her son has been battling turns out to be a monster whose tentacles are everywhere and whose appetites are beyond reckoning. There is a scene where Julia Roberts' car breaks down. The unit lensed scenes in St Johns Episcopal Church in Larchmont at 4 West Fountain Square. Ben's mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Admittedly, you may feel like youve had your fill of troubled rich white guys with all their second chances and five-star rehab opportunities. These scenes are the most engaging, but that may be because they are action-oriented, and the characters have finally stopped freakin talking about their problems. Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. Ben is around 20 years old (at which age I too was also . Ben assures his mother that his sponsor had OK'd his return. Just go to our search page or use the search bar, with or without a keyword, from the top navigation menu. Shes taken him Christmas shopping so hell have appropriate clothes to wear at church that night. Hollys parental crisis is also a social crisis. In this all new movie we find Morticia . However, any commercial reproduction of anything appearing within this site is both illegal and in really bad taste and we will take action |more|. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. It is hard to believe anything Ben says when he arrives or opens his mouth. But shes also been burned enough times to know that she must quickly and quietly clean out the pills from her medicine cabinet and gather valuables from her jewelry box. . Consequently, they set up a base at the village center and scanned the neighborhood. Although Dolly has an outburst following this incident, she does not find the fresh batch she is looking for. While holiday shopping at the mall, Holly runs into Ben's former doctor, now an old man with dementia. What Hedges wants to do here is make you feel the dread and nausea of a parent living with a teenage addict the prickle of fear walking into his bedroom. You could cast a unicorn in a movie with this woman and the only thing anyone would say is, Nice horse, but did you see JULIA ROBERTS? She turns the dimmer down here a little to give a performance thats a full emotional workout. Let us know what you think in the comments below. Buy Tickets to Ben Is Back: https://www.fandango.com/ben-is-back-213738/movie-overview?cmp=CSYT_YouTube_DescWant to be notified of all the latest clips and behind the scenes footage? By what name was Ben Is Back (2018) officially released in India in Hindi? She ends up at Maggies house, and Maggies mother, Beth, gives Dolly an emergency overdose kit. ben is back mall scene "Bennifer" is officially back! As the winter darkness descends, mother and son enter an inferno of grieving parents, sexual predators, ruthless dealers and hollowed-out users. Additional filming went underway at the Super Seven convenience store, located at 75 Orange Turnpike in Sloatsburg. Prices of energy and food are rising rapidly. Hedges son, Lucaswho has put together a string of strong work in just the past couple of years between Manchester By the Sea, Lady Bird, Boy Erased and mid90sstars as the title character, a charismatic young man who radiates a combination of enthusiasm and understandable unease. Another scene shows Ben running into an old friend at the mall, who exclaims that he thought he was dead. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed and a mother's undying love . Shortly after Neal and Holly argue over Ben's arrival, there's a scene focusing on Ben's interaction with his young siblings. The film begins when 19-year-old Ben Burns reappears in his house in Yonkers, New York, just in time for Christmas. Roberts never quite disappears into her role as a sacrificial mom. Im Peter Hedges, writer and director of Ben Is Back. Ben Burns, played by Lucas Hedges, comes home unexpectedly on Christmas Eve Day. Furious, she takes him to the cemetery, asking him where he would like to be buried. A measure of privilege is baked into this assumption, and Ben Is Back is partly about the way the current scourge of opioid and heroin addiction has contributed to the demoralization of the American middle class. Clayton is not convinced by what Ben has to offer, and Ben has to do another job for Clayton if he wants to take Ponce back. It is almost laughable to watch Julia Roberts wandering around a site full of addicts on a dark winter night searching for her child. 19-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns home to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. . Her anger at Ben dragging her (and her family) into his mess comes and goes. How can he live with what hes done? A young man seems nervous when he sees another young man in a shopping mall. But she think she is. He is entirely credible as an almost-grown man whose credibility has virtually collapsed, who is in a constant state of war with himself. Suburban shopping mall parking lots are magical places. However, later, Dolly reaches Ivy to find Bens location. Ben has something hes not saying. Now, with Ben is Back, director Peter Hedges has created something a little bit different: a half-and-half movie with plenty of standard-issue addiction drama courtesy of Julia Roberts as a suburban mum trying to keep her 19-year-old son off opioids at Christmas. The best thing that can be said about this film is that Hedges isnt going for warm and fuzzy feelings. Holly sees Ben standing on the porch on her way back from the church with children Liam, Lacey, and Ivy. Will he be dead on the floor with a needle sticking out of his arm? Hedges direction is efficient and understated in these scenes. His mother Holly (Roberts) beams as only Julia Roberts can beam, full megawatt dazzle delighted to see him. The elder Hedges needs to make amends. Photograph: Doane Gregory/AP These colors don't run. The disease of addiction can afflict anyone, anywhere, Hedges reminds us, just as Beautiful Boy did earlier this year. It enlivens a moralizing tough-love scene, as when Holly takes her son to a cemetery and asks him to pick out a burial site because he will soon be dead if he doesnt change. "Bennifer" is officially back! Bens intense dynamic with his mother, Holly Burns, and the subsequent effect of his addiction on the family form the core of the drama. She scolds him for getting her son hooked on painkillers after a snowboarding accident when Ben was younger. A young man says that he got a young woman hooked and we understand that she is dead. The rest of Ben Is Back, written and directed by Peter Hedges (father of Lucas), sustains and intensifies that clammy, anxious feeling. Holly unleashes all her anger at this sick old man, who clearly has dementia an unflinching scene that feels real and raw in its emotional incorrectness. And Julias switch from happy mother shopping with her son to concerned and panicked mother is Mom, it was a joke. so powerful. Excuse me can I get a key to this door, please? This scene is a microcosm for the film that in Holly, at the beginning, you see the hope she has that this is going to be a fun thing. Upon the arrival she is first shocked and then overjoyed to see her. Just as his performance in Boy Erased failed to convince he was struggling with his sexuality, Hedges never seems to be truly fighting addiction here. He has been to rehab a few times, and his return brings more menace than peace for the family of Dolly Burns ( Julia Roberts ), her second husband, Neal Beeby, and the family. [6] In November, Kathryn Newton was cast as the titular Ben's sister Ivy,[7] and Alexandra Park joined as an addict Ben meets during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A young man talks about people in a car flatulating repeatedly. A young man speeds away from a gas station leaving his mother inside alone and with no ride. And a scene between the two mothers is painful, but in a manipulative, not heartbreaking way. While we read all emails & try to reply we don't always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 14th Annual African American Film Critics Association Awards Recipients Revealed, Child of Graceland: Lisa Marie Presley (1968-2023), FOXs Accused Is An Emotionally Manipulative Void. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released on December 7, 2018, by LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, and Lionsgate. She even takes a tour of the river, where they all end up at the dead of the night. His sister and stepfather are, however, deeply. Helmed by Peter Hedges, the 2018 drama Ben Is Back is a refreshing and nuanced addiction movie about drugs and how they affect society. REVIEWS You can learn to parallel park there, you can make out with your high school boyfriend . Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother's undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe. | profanity glossary |. Ben owes Clayton a great deal of money since he takes a wad of cash and Dollys expensive necklace to make it square. Ben plays noisily with his half-siblings but too noisily an edge of anxious . You can help us keep our independence with a donation. An important filming location is Harriman State Park. This is supposed to be such a joyous timethe most wonderful time of the year, evenbut expectations and regrets can serve as triggers, adding to the anxiety of the season. Ben is Back review - Julia Roberts can't save middling addiction drama Strong performances from the Oscar winner and Lucas Hedges enliven a patchy film about a mother dealing with the return of. The Fabelmans, Babylon, Empire of Light: Why the spate of love letters to cinema? I dont think Ben is Back hangs together perfectly but there were times I forgot to breathe for a second or three. Ben completes the mission and gets Ponce back, but Clayton also gives him some drugs in return. Vendors are amongst the most vulnerable people affected. Other Sellers on Amazon. The plot follows a mother who tries to help her addict son after he returns home from rehab. Ben Is Back ends on a note of vague hope, but its a reminder that Christmas Day is just one more opportunity to take it one day at a time. The conflict is not his alone. We see a photo of a woman wearing a camisole that reveals cleavage. A young man tells another young man, "I thought you were dead." Holly follows Ponce to the barn where she finds Ben unconscious, having taken the drugs from Clayton. If the thought has indeed crossed your mind, allow us to enlighten you. The next scene they're at a gas station with no explanation as to how they got the broken down vehicle there. He wisely lets his actors act, giving them space to indicate so much in just a meaningful look. - Opioid addiction affects not only the addict but the whole family. Later, Ben and Dolly head to a community session, and Ben meets another addict who used to score from him. But everywhere he goes hes confronted by life as an addict. But Julia Roberts puts everyone in the shade, even Hedges one of my favourite young actors (he played Casey Afflecks nephew in Manchester By the Sea). Dolly says that Ben is with her, but Ivy has installed trackers on the cell phones of the house. In the place, Dolly finds Ben almost dead. "Ben Is Back" hands down is the most emotional movie of the year. His relationship with Julia Roberts as his mother, Holly, provides the film with its vivid heart. "Ben Is Back" takes place in snowy, idyllic, small-town New York, and Ben comes from a family of comfort and means. While there, she receives a call from a man who found Ponce, driving out to retrieve him. Hollywood films about addiction tend to be tasteful, well-meaning awardsy dramas. But then in the second half of Ben Is Back, it becomes a different kind of movie: a low-key thriller in which Ben and Holly are forced to run around town, revisiting his misdeeds in search of clues to a mystery. The film eventually goes off in thriller-like direction with Ben and Holly searching for the family dog, which has been stolen by one of Bens former associates to whom he owes a debt. Should they believe him? Ben has been in rehab since he nearly died after becoming hooked on painkillers resulting from a sports injury, a habit that eventually led to him selling drugs to young people in the neighborhood, incidents that neither Ben, the drug dealers, or the victim's and their families will ever forget. After mall PDA, AJ Raval insists Aljur Abrenica just . There is also an ominous image of a character who will figure heavily in the story later, especially as mother and son go to some disturbing places seeking catharsis. Ben Is Back takes place in snowy, idyllic, small-town New York, and Ben comes from a family of comfort and means. Bens a charmer and a talkerhell burst into a silly song to amuse the little onesand its clear that hes trying strenuously, as well, to make his return a happy one. After Bens return, the situation at home is tense, although Dolly especially has faith in Ben. Scott Dec. 5, 2018 When the title character shows up early in "Ben Is Back" just before Christmas, at his. A woman tells another woman, "You can't help them. Theyve just come from a 12-step meeting. And then watching how she can, on a dime, flip from the happy mom to panicked mom and fierce mom Where did you get this? Added . By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from the Big Issue and our partners. Ben soon makes eye contact with a man who is presumably linked to his drug-dealing. But shes not paying full attention. Can they trust him? new video loaded: Ben Is Back | Anatomy of a Scene, Hi. For the time, Ben only wants the dog back. The cast and crew spent a significant amount of time in the Hudson Valley region. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Ben (Lucas Hedges) has no father and has turned to overdependence on prescription medication. After pressure from her husband, she insists she will stick to Ben for the next 24 hours. But you would never forgive yourself for not trying." 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