Winter Passing

Greetings again from the darkness. When writers attempt to tackle too many themes in one story, usually none are complete. Writer and Director Adam Rapp (brother Anthony is of "Rent" fame and has a brief cameo in this one) is extremely ambitious as he explores parenthood, artistic genius, friendship, community, guilt and the desire to feel love and pain. Surprisingly Rapp is mostly successful in pulling off a most complex script. Ed Harris stars as a reclusive writer with more than a nod to J.D. Salinger (his last name is Holden ... get it?). In poor health and being taken care of by a former student (Amelia Warner) and a broken down rhythm guitarist (Will Ferrell), Harris is taken aback when his long lost daughter (Zooey Deschanel) shows up one day. Drastically altering the dynamics of this bizarre little community, Deschanel literally steals the film. She spills her soul on screen and we somehow understand her habit of slamming her hand in a drawer just to feel something. She is a pitiful person seeking redemption and her place in life. Harris and Warner are fine in their roles, but Ferrell is a real distraction. As a viewer, we don't see the character. We see Will Ferrell on screen ... acting goofy and clumsily mumbling his lines. His open mike night could easily have been an SNL skit. This movie would have been much better with a straight forward actor in this role. That said, I still have faith Ferrell will succeed as a dramatic actor. If Robin Williams could make the transition, surely Elf can. If you might enjoy multi-layered story telling, a tremendous performance by Zooey and can look past Will Ferrell, this movie has a lot to offer.

Imperfect, yes, but Winter Passing managed to involve me and charm me without overstaying its welcome. A young woman barely in control of her life returns home to her estranged father only to find that he is in even less control of his. A redefined family searching for common ground, the daughter unsure of a relationship long-strained and left to wither. Some challenges and more than a little redemption. Adam Rapp did not over reach on any of these subplots and the performances, particularly by Deschanel and Harris, are very substantial, although Will Farrell was an interesting choice for his character. Many will probably expect him to start doing something silly, as opposed to only mildly funny. This is one of the best "films you've never seen" that I've come across lately. Well worth a try.

This movie was simply bad. And her killing the kitten by drowning instead of just letting vet euthanize the baby really ruined the movie for me. I didn't care what happened to Reese after she was so cruel to her rescue kitten. Wasted my time watching this movie. Whoever wrote this tripe needs to rethink their calling.

I think this movie sucked ass. I don't understand the point of it and it was really boring to watch. Yuck! I also hated the kitten scene. Unnececary! She didn't have to do that. I know this girl was depressed but what a downer movie. I really don't understand the 2 thumbs up at all. Ferrel's character was good in that he was able to repress his comedic routine but who was he and why was he there? Her dad was emotionally handicapped. They became their own family,and are adjusting to life. the main character learned how to get in touch with her emotions. The story was just way out there. I am really disappointed in it and again it sucks!

It was in focus. It had intelligible sound. It wasn't too long. Main character kills a kitten by putting it in a gym bag and throwing said bag into the Hudson river (in winter!). Strange choice. Too bad it went downhill from there. Let's see, downtown, kind-of-hot junkie girl goes back home to rescue JD Saling- oops, I mean her fictional recluse author Dad. Turns out Dad's been writing in secret, buried his book in the ground. Junkie girl digs up book, sells it for lots of money - oh, no, that's would have happened in real life - she read said book, likes it, blah, blah, blah. Boooooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnngggggg. After 45 minutes, I started using the fast forward button. It was much less boring 1) at 4x speed and 2) without dialog.

Winter Passing is remarkable for several reasons. The performances of Zooey Deschanel and Ed Harris are resonant and moving. The look and the music of the film are quite lovely and evoke a hurt, longing that works well with the theme of the film. And finally, the story itself is remarkable for anyone who's familiar with the life and enigma of the writer J.D. Salinger. For anyone who has read his daughter, Margaret Salinger's wonderful memoir, "Dream Catcher," the film will play like a thinly veiled reference to her life with the highly lauded and tragically flawed father who is a legend and inspiration to generations and a horror as a father.