By: TRIBECA ’13: SUSANNA LOCASCIO’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail

TRIBECA ’13: SUSANNA LOCASCIO’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:18:10 +0000

[…] Bluebird (Lance Edmands, 90m) — If the Florida landscape is uninspiring, the frozen forests of Maine in Lance Edmands’ ensemble film Bluebird are downright unforgiving. Like Collyer, Edmands uses landscape shots as transitions, and shows us a working class community constrained by a failing economy. But in Bluebird the characters don’t make choices as much as react to forces greater than they are. A bus driver’s accidental negligence leads to the injury of a child, and the film is dedicated to the personal, internal way this tragedy unhinges the families involved. The characters’ varying responses to the accident are painfully muted, terse and frigid like the world around them; when their emotions eventually break through it’s like ice cracking. Edmands draws strong performances from his cast, especially Amy Morton (Up in the Air) and Margo Martindale as the mothers of the two families. I’ve seen Morton on Broadway in August: Osage County and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, but it was a thrill to see her in a film like this. The camerawork is notably fluent, from stalwart DP Jody Lee Lipes (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tiny Furniture), whose composed frames and frequent master shots showcase the work of production designer Inbal Weinberg (Blue Valentine, Pariah). Though it was his feature debut, Edmands showed maturity in surrounding himself with such talent. [Read my HTN Conversation With Lance Edmands] […]

Comments on: A Conversation With Lance Edmands (BLUEBIRD)

By: TRIBECA ’13: SUSANNA LOCASCIO’S WRAP-UP – Hammer to Nail