This Is Martin Bonner

2013
R
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

Having recently declared bankruptcy, Martin Bonner has just uprooted his life to Reno from the East Coast, leaving behind two adult children and a life he spent decades building. He's working a new job as a volunteer helping prisoners transition to freedom. It's Martin's first job in two years. Recently released after 12 years in prison and now in the transition program, Travis Holloway is sent back into the world bankrupt of self-esteem as well as of a normal life. To their surprise, their lives and stories begin to converge as they find that they have much in common, until their unlikely friendship is put to the test when Travis betrays Martin's trust.

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Drama

Martin Bonner has just moved to Nevada from the East Coast, leaving behind his two adult children and a life he spent more than two decades building.Martin Bonner has just moved to Nevada from the East Coast, leaving behind his two adult children and a life he spent more than two decades building.Martin Bonner has just moved to Nevada from the East Coast, leaving behind his two adult children and a life he spent more than two decades building.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 8 wins & 5 nominations

Trivia
During the speed-dating scene, Martin mentions that he was once in a rock band called Kopyrite ("with a K"). Actor Paul Eenhoorn was in fact in a band called Kopyrite; their song "Genevieve," which Eeehoorn wrote, is featured on the soundtrack.

Goofs
Early in the film, when Bonner is leaving the auction with the lamp he bought, as he approaches his car, the edge of the front license plate holder is visible, but doesn't have a Nevada plate. Nevada law requires a front license plate if there is a holder for it on the vehicle.

Connections
Featured in The 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards (2014)

Soundtracks
Thoughts for a Newly Old Lover
Written and Performed by Roman Candle
Courtesy of Bill and Mary Music

User reviews9

Review

Featured review

8/10

lovely characters, simple story

I decided to write this review in order to counterbalance the negative one posted by Farron34.

I liked this movie very much, because it showed real people and their simple lives. Because for Travis just out of prison, even a squalid motel room is a gift, and you perceive it without one word said in that regard. The way he walks out in the chilly air with a hot cup of coffee to look at the "outside" with a fantastic 360° pan around him showing real America: freeway, cars, asphalt, anonymous buildings, bright advertisement - nothing exceptional but the beautiful sunset light of the Nevada desert.

I liked the way it criticizes the Church of Christians, of the zealots, of those who live off the church and its charity but the observation is done gently and respectfully. There is more but you have to see it for yourself, the joy is in the details.

If you want spectacle and glitz this movie is not for you but if you want to observe a few human beings dealing with their banal, only life, filled with the little things that make it worth living, well, this is an excellent movie.