Love After Love

I have seen enough films at this point to know while watching it that this was one of the first films Russell Harbaugh directed. I knew this because first, there were several instances in which scenes interrupted other scenes without rhyme or reason. This implies that several scenes were, in my opinion, cut short. There were also times when the camera lingered too long on a subject, e.g., Andie McDowell. Related to this was the omission of what probably should have been included, specifically, the consequences of every time Chris O'Dowd's character, Nicholas, cheated on his then lover. In both cases, he just moved along, and whatever consequence there was, was minimal, and the film just progressed to his next involvement.

Then, there is the story line. I kept seeing an elephant in the room that no one was talking about and that was the Oedipal thing going on between Andie M. and Chris O'Dowd, as mother and son. Perhaps another film will grow out of this subject that was glaringly there and ignored. It almost felt as if the writer/director couldn't decide what should be the main story line, the emotional aftermath of the death of a family's husband/father, or the Oedipal relationship between the mother and son of that family which was highlighted once the father died.

Overall, as someone who can never watch too many "relationship movies", I am glad I saw Love After Love and look forward to Harbaugh's next.