I was initially attracted to this film by the solid cast, featuring such players as Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek and Laura Linney. While I found the acting to be overall representative of such talent, neither the plot nor the created characters struck much of a chord with me.
For a very basic summary, "The Roads Not Taken" tells the story of Leo (Bardem), an older man experiencing some form of senile dementia or other cognitive impairment. While being shepherded to various appointments over the course of a day by his daughter Molly (Fanning), Leo flashes back to a series of pivot-point moments in his life where things may have turned out differently.
The underlying concept of this film is solid and intriguing. That being, the notion that someone could live out certain "what ifs?" in their life and see the results of those "roads not taken" (hence the title). The problem with this specific film, however, is two-fold:
First, it waits far too long to clue the viewer in on what is happening in Leo's mental flashbacks. Had I known what those were, I could have better appreciated them in the moment. As it stands, however, those scenes serve as odd non-sequiturs for almost two thirds of the film before the audience will understanding what is happening.
That above failing wouldn't be so bad if the characters "in the moment" gave viewers something to become invested in, but sadly this isn't the case either. The entire story is very dour and gives little to no semblance of hope throughout the proceedings. I wanted to become emotionally invested in the characters, but it only felt like I was continually being pummeled with depressing material scene after scene.
As I mentioned, the acting purely on its own merit is very good here. This is especially true for Fanning, who gives her all (as usual) and provides the only true emotion of the entire picture that viewers may care about or latch on to. That being said, it was a little sad seeing her give 100% in the acting department for a story that simply didn't live up to such a performance.
Overall, "The Roads Not Taken" is a great nugget of an idea that is largely rendered inert by a confusing narrative and lack of context to care about the characters. I wanted to get on board with the idea, but the film never truly inspired me to do so.
For a very basic summary, "The Roads Not Taken" tells the story of Leo (Bardem), an older man experiencing some form of senile dementia or other cognitive impairment. While being shepherded to various appointments over the course of a day by his daughter Molly (Fanning), Leo flashes back to a series of pivot-point moments in his life where things may have turned out differently.
The underlying concept of this film is solid and intriguing. That being, the notion that someone could live out certain "what ifs?" in their life and see the results of those "roads not taken" (hence the title). The problem with this specific film, however, is two-fold:
First, it waits far too long to clue the viewer in on what is happening in Leo's mental flashbacks. Had I known what those were, I could have better appreciated them in the moment. As it stands, however, those scenes serve as odd non-sequiturs for almost two thirds of the film before the audience will understanding what is happening.
That above failing wouldn't be so bad if the characters "in the moment" gave viewers something to become invested in, but sadly this isn't the case either. The entire story is very dour and gives little to no semblance of hope throughout the proceedings. I wanted to become emotionally invested in the characters, but it only felt like I was continually being pummeled with depressing material scene after scene.
As I mentioned, the acting purely on its own merit is very good here. This is especially true for Fanning, who gives her all (as usual) and provides the only true emotion of the entire picture that viewers may care about or latch on to. That being said, it was a little sad seeing her give 100% in the acting department for a story that simply didn't live up to such a performance.
Overall, "The Roads Not Taken" is a great nugget of an idea that is largely rendered inert by a confusing narrative and lack of context to care about the characters. I wanted to get on board with the idea, but the film never truly inspired me to do so.