pappasl

No frills, no gimmicks, just human drama, executed by four extremely gifted actors. Everything from the performances down to the brilliant direction by Noah Baumbach gave you a front row seat to the break-up of a family. It was as though you were watching a documentary of the event. You laugh and cry with these people because they feel so real to you.

The characters were so well written, it could only have come from real life experience. You couldn't make this stuff up. I can't think of a film, and I've seen many, that has characters with the depth that those in this film possess.

Jeff Daniels was incredible as the father, eaten up inside by unfulfilled dreams of literary stardom. His passive aggressive demeaning of others accomplishments is something I think we all can identify in one degree or another. His rightly subdued performance, punctuated with moments of raw emotionality, was something to see.

Laura Linney had so many layers to her performance. Though she was the natural target for the audiences wrath, she managed to make her character, the unfaithful wife, sympathetic. Which is the way it should be, because in this story, the blame does not fall on any one character. Had she failed in this, it would have cheapened the whole. Luckily, she succeeded admirably.

The oldest son and dilettante, played by Jesse Eisenberg was perfectly cast. He was able to display the false bravado of youth while giving us a glimpse of the underlying insecurity that he felt. He took a very complex character and delivered it with a skill that belies his years.

Owen Kline, the youngest son, was another coup. Naturally, being the youngest, it is with his character that the audience most identifies emotionally. His performance did nothing to break that bond. Even the bizarre way that he reacts to all that is going on around him(I won't spoil here)does not take you out of that emotional connection.

Gave this nine, because nothing gets a ten(yet) but this is as good a film as I've seen in quite some time. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Lou

Gave it two stars because the DVD cover was good enough to make me buy this piece of horse manure. I paid a dollar for it at the local DVD exchange and I want my money back. I have a couple of good movies(at least I think they're good) that have never seen the inside of a video store. After seeing this, I'm really insulted by that. Light years worse than anything I've ever seen, I can't even recommend this as a campy joke movie. It is so bad, instead of making you laugh it makes you angry. How did this awful film find any kind of distro? I can only believe it was self distributed as the amateurish DVD authoring would suggest. To the producers of this "movie" get out of the business, it's obvious you have no talent for it.

I am a sucker for "indie" films, but recently I've noticed an influx of low-budget crap. As better camcorders get cheaper, everyone with a couple of grand in their pocket is suddenly calling himself a filmmaker. This spate of amateurish horse-pucky had left me disillusioned. Then along came Body/Antibody. A truly indie film, with the kind of quirky, un-Hollywood story that typified everything I had previously grown to love about self produced films. Granted, this is not for everyone. If you have a "World's Greatest Grandma" bumper sticker, you may want to skip this one. But if you, like me, can enjoy a roller coaster ride of a story that goes from goofy romance to creepy thriller with more twists than a pretzel, don't miss this one.

I should also mention that the performances of the three main characters were absolutely believable and fun. Their skill added a plausibility to the story that was essential.

If you are lucky enough to have this film screen in your town, go see it, you won't be disappointed. This is a truly unique story. An independent film worthy of that title.