(PHOTO: Courtesy Kaleidoscope Film Distribution). Glassland is the reason why these unknown movies must stay unknown so no one can understand the genius mind of these kinds of movies. "Glassland" boasts a strong lead cast who help lift the film greatly and to soaring heights in its emotional richness. With Natalie Gregory, Sheila Allen, Sharee Gregory, Red Buttons. “Glassland” is not rated. In the end, Glassland manages a supremely credible job of character development, explaining not only John’s dilemma but the reasons Jean has sunk to the depths of her own reckless desolation. Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 Oktay Ege Kozak The Playlist An intensely emotional movie that is often hard to watch due to it’s stressful subject matter, Glassland takes up the subject of dependence and the unconditional love of a son for his … If you want to relate to your mom you have to find common ground. Follow. My rating 3/5. An image comes into his mind of himself, his mother, and Kit all smiling and greeting one another as a reunited family. Here the movie ends. There’s no doubt that Irish actor Jack Reynor deserves recognition for his role in Glassland, a modern-day kitchen sink drama set in a south Dublin social housing suburb. But he also genuinely wants his mom to stop drinking, and it's questionable whether a colder approach with Jean would yield a better result. it’s a shame how great the acting is in this movie, especially from toni and will, just for it to be a drag of a watch. Movies alone don't have the power to discourage people from drinking or encourage them to stop; but if they did, "Glassland," about the relationship between an alcoholic mother and her grown son, might not be a bad candidate to show on Intervention Movie Night. In some ways, yes. Click the AdBlock Plus button on your browser and select Enabled on this site. The film is told not through the eyes of a drinker, but somebody who cannot stop a loved one from drinking. The film is a record of things experienced and seen, no more and no less. The film is at times a sad, depressing study in despair, yet its uncompromising no-frills honesty is admirable. Is John an enabler? The net effect is not one of intoxication, as is the case in films like "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Under the Volcano," but enforced sobriety. Its rhythm and tone have a morning-after feel: the movie is banging on pots and pans and telling you to get out of bed and have some coffee. The direction and writing conspire to create a balanced picture of the bleaker side of love, revealing with an almost embarrassing candor both sides of the human condition. seems to spend much of his rather paltry downtime coping with his mom , Jean (Toni Collette), who by more than one person's estimate is drinking herself to death: suicide by debauchery. That’s a low-key hook that mostly plays right into Glassland‘s unshowy execution, which is just unnerving enough to overwhelm someone with a personal connection to these issues. With Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn. This has no effect on Jean. EpicLadySponge May 3, 2016. Search. Directed by Harry Harris. Like Saoirse Ronan, Mr. Reynor was born in America (Colorado, to be exact) and raised in Ireland, where he has made a solid impact as a handsome young actor with protean skills, first praised in the marvelous Irish film What Richard Did, and most recently displayed as the dashing but cynical British army officer who escorts the teenage Princess Elizabeth on a renegade night on the town in World War Two in A Royal Night Out and as a co-star of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in Macbeth. Sometimes he even drinks with her. Jack worries that she'll never get there, that she'll just keep drinking and drinking and then she'll be gone, and he'll blame himself, even though her life wasn't his to save, and he did the best he could. Sundance: Toni Collette On Playing An Addict In 'Glassland' Larry King Now on Ora.TV. But reality intervenes. Jean, played with passion and force by Ms. Collette, has never felt much maternal connection with either son, and John has reluctantly been forced to act as husband, father, friend and chief caregiver to everyone involved. Will Poulter and Jack Raynor. Sometimes he stares at her adoringly even when she's downing glass after glass of wine and dancing around the kitchen to "Tainted Love" (a rather on-the-nose music choice, but acceptable; sometimes life hands you a soundtrack). Plot. 'Glassland smartly plays off Jean's unhinged disintegration against John's tense, subdued control. The first time we meet Jean, she's passed out, seemingly overdosed; as soon as she recovers, thanks to her son scooping her up and taking her to the emergency room, she starts drinking again. 6 years ago | 21 views. Barrett is mostly content to pick a camera angle and watch his characters behave. Glassland is a moving example of the powerful intensity that is coming out of so much of the Irish cinema today. A young taxi driver’s attempts to rescue his mother from addiction and help his brother with Down syndrome gets him mixed up in human trafficking. It starts with Jack waking up in the morning, and very quickly it gives us a glimpse of what it's like for him to share a flat with his mum. It was released on October 25, 2011 on hardcover, paperback and audiobook. At one point he even takes out his cell phone and records one of her drunken, screaming rants, to give her an objective point-of-view on what it's like to be around her when she's at her worst. 7. This overgrown boy still loves his mother, even though she makes his life hell and seems determined to kill herself one glass at a time. Set in Dublin, 'Glassland' tells the story of a young taxi driver who gets tangled up in the world of human trafficking while trying to save his mother from drug addiction. The sober person feels a deep sense of responsibility coupled with frustration over not being able to do anything that will unquestionably, tangibly help. When he returns, his mother is still not home for the second morning in a row. If not for this, it may have drowned in its dark themes and story. 6 years ago | 21 views. The film is dark and in the face portraying the struggle of a son trying his best to get his mother back on track. The two lead performances could not be better. Glassland is both a love story without sex, and a crime story without violence—a decided anomaly among just about every other film about life in an Irish slum. It's an impossible predicament. Toni Collette tells Larry King her character in the indie film 'Glassland,' which premiered at Sundance in January, is different from any of her previous roles in its rawness and honesty. Stay with it and it’ll stay with you. She can quit any time she wants. A nickel pack won’t do. Unique as a piece of glass. Glassland movie reviews & Metacritic score: John (Jack Reynor) lives with his mother, Jean (Toni Collette), in a social housing suburb and ekes out a … Set after the end of the Human-Covenant War in 2553, Halo: Glasslands explores the volatile political situation in the Halo universe following the end of the war. It's ultimately up to the addict to decide to change. This is a common characteristic of drunks, who can feel simultaneously uninhibited and painfully self-conscious, socially awkward and theatrically exuberant. That's all she ever really does: drink. Comments; Our Verdict. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. A nickel pack won’t do. Written and directed by: Gerard Barrett There's a quietly violent quality to the direction; we keep having moments taken away from us and forced to reorient ourselves and look at something else, something new, even when we're not ready. ... this is a movie that shows how it can all go south. This all happens within the first 15 minutes of the film and sets the tone for everything to come, as John goes about trying to save his mother from self-destruction and carve some kind of life for himself. The richly nuanced characters and situations tremble with drama, yet never sink to the level of melodrama. But none of this quite feels like actor-y showboating because Collette invests Jean's behavior with a slightly detached quality, as if she's half-outside of her consciousness, observing herself as she acts out, and up. Jack Raynor and Toni Collette. The film stars Jack Reynor as a young man who tries to help his mother (Toni Collette) with her alcoholism. 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