End of Sentence eftir Elfar Aðalsteins fær góða dóma í The Hollywood Reporter, en myndin verður frumsýnd á Íslandi á næstu RIFF hátíð sem hefst í lok september.
Stephen Dalton, gagnrýnandi The Hollywood Reporter, skrifar meðal annars:
A newly widowed father and his ex-con son share a fractious journey across Ireland in End of Sentence, a tragicomic road movie from Icelandic producer-turned-director Elfar Adalsteins. Serving as a fine showcase for the craggy, soulful, hangdog screen presence of veteran Oscar nominee John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), with solid support from former child actor Logan Lerman (star of the Percy Jackson fantasy films), this bittersweet Iceland-Ireland-U.S. co-production has some of the character-rich tone and novelistic texture of an Alexander Payne movie. World premiered in Edinburgh, it has ample potential for turning festival buzz into box office returns.
[…]End of Sentence is a familiar story at heart, but beautifully observed, sensitively played and smart enough to wrong-foot audience expectations whenever the plot gets too comfortable. While Michael Armbruster’s screenplay presses some obvious tear-jerking buttons in places, it never stoops to cheap sentimentality. The unresolved issues at the root of the story, with hardened cynic Sean repeatedly goading Frank for being a docile loser, have the painfully authentic feel of real family feuds. Even during a handful of incongruous scenes when this low-key indie drama switches gear into frenetic farce, complete with police chases and double-crossing subplots, the film retains this pleasingly crunchy kernel of truth.
Predictably, Armbruster’s picaresque plot eventually finds a way of thawing the frosty impasse between the two men, but the road to reconciliation is pleasingly bumpy and steep. Bolger’s elusive character is a little too opaquely sketched, although she still gives a rounded performance, particularly during a standout musical interlude when she takes on Ewan McColl’s classic folk ballad „Dirty Old Town.“ Adalsteins maintains an impressively steady hand for a first-time director, while he and cinematographer Karl Oskarsson shoot the lush Irish countryside with majestic aerial shots that manage to look ravishing without resorting to twinkle-eyed Emerald Isle cliché.
Sjá nánar hér: ‘End of Sentence’ Review | Hollywood Reporter
