Following a young man that lives his life by a dramatic way. The story begins, where Ben Burns decided to return home to his unsuspecting family one fateful Christmas Eve. In his house, it seems that his wary mother Holly Burns welcomes her beloved son's return, but soon learns he is still very much in harm's way, which make all are in a frightening way. After short time, there is something will change their lives forever, and Holly must do everything in her power to avoid the family's downfall in this hard time.
Unfortunately, by adding cumbersome elements to the narrative, it ultimately detracts from the core human story and causes the viewer to leave the film dissatisfied...
Despite its Hollywood gloss - it's a Julia Roberts film, after all - the film does venture into some of the grittier realities about those stricken with addiction.
"Ben is Back" is one of those awards season films that looks on paper to be a slam dunk: Mother and child relationship, drugs and drama is a cocktail for Oscar gold. In this case, the dunk is a dud.
The movie's real achievement lies in Roberts's performance, which is possibly her best. Holly is incandescent with worry. She's good and kind and intimate.
The miniaturization of scope ends up making everything feel intensely melodramatic, while the frenetic, breathless editing -- capably realized by Ian Blume -- transforms even the most innocuous kitchen argument into a drug-induced fit of mania.
This is an intimate, incredibly tense drama about a troubled family battling raw emotional pains, a bare-bones and bare-knuckled look at the destructive powers of addiction.
Features good and incisive writing from Peter Hedges (who also directs) and effective performances from Roberts and Hedges... But not even their work can quite justify their increasingly tedious and unbelievable surroundings.
Showy acting is popular, but I think Peter and Lucas Hedges...do their best work in the quieter moments, in which they take us deep inside a problem that has tragic consequences for so many people.
