Meadowland (2015) Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Elisabeth Moss, Ty Simpkins, John Leguizamo, Kevin Corrigan Movie Review

Meadowland (2015)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson in Meadowland (2015)

Numbing

When Sarah (Olivia Wilde - Rush) and Philip (Luke Wilson - Henry Poole Is Here) pulled over at a service station to get a drink for their young son the unthinkable happens, their child goes missing when he goes to the restroom. A year on from that fateful day and Philip, a policeman, is trying to keep going, taking advantage of group sessions for other parents dealing with the loss of their children whilst also spending time in bars. But for Sarah she has become numb to life and seeking extremes to feel something again be it cutting herself or listening to thrash metal. But as Sarah becomes more desperate to feel anything it leads her down an incredibly dangerous path.

I have to start this review and tell you that "Meadowland" is not a bad movie but it wasn't for me and I found it a hard slog to stay watching till the end. But in fairness it was interesting as we see how Sarah becomes dead to the world around her, staring blankly out at others, joyless, emotionless, desperate to feel something but nothing, even extreme acts of self hurt do little to bring her back to the world. Meanwhile we have Philip who feels like with Sarah going down a rabbit hole of her own making he is trying to cope and continue as best as he can but is dealing with a primal desire for revenge which he is trying to control despite befriending one father who is dealing with the death of a daughter.

The reason why despite being interesting "Meadowland" didn't work for me is that stylistically this is non-typical and whilst I wouldn't say it was artsy it certainly wasn't trying to be a drama which entertained either. It means that there is almost an observational quality to the movie and unless you can connect with the characters of Sarah as Philip, either having dealt with a loss of a child or just as parents who can't imagine the pain, this movie doesn't draw you in to what is happening and allows you to feel that pain.

What this all boils down to is that "Meadowland" whilst a well made movie, which I am sure achieves what director Reed Morano intended, did not work for me and ended up a hard movie to stick with till the end.


LATEST REVIEWS