I think this was okay. The knock on it seems to be that it’s too schmaltzy and sweet for what it is but, to be honest, they were probably the qualities I liked most about it. The movie basically seems split between wanting to be an emotionally manipulative, heavy-handed crowd-pleaser and something more poetic and worthy, and the constant shift is where it struggles. The big emotional scenes feel at odds with the quiet, private struggles we see in the rest of the movie and the dichotomy kind of makes everything feel inauthentic.
It’d be a lie to say I didn’t find it quite moving anyway, but it’s every bit as affected as it is affecting.
Grade: ***
