The Parting Glass (2018) User Reviews

Love, loss, isolation, family ties, and a road trip

[juneebuggy · 5/10 · 10 May 2020]

This was slow going and well, not great even with the cast attached. Story follows three siblings, their dad and an ex-husband who travel across the country to collect the youngest sisters belongings after her death. Along the road trip they stop frequently for coffee and tea, bicker over car convoy position or who is riding with who, they cry, they laugh they have panic attacks as they share their memories and last moments of the family they have just lost. The viewer gets the occasional flashback to Annan Paquin the deceased sister.

This is raw at times, its interesting how everybody deals with grief differently. Some characters are really vague or underutilized (Melissa Leo) others stood out Ed Asner is powerful and Denis O'Hare is fantastic. I also liked an American speaking Rhys Ifans as the husband. Other family members included Paul Gross and Cynthia Nixon. Hummm Stephen Moyer directed.

A very slow movie

[alsupremo · 2/10 · 26 March 2019]

This film started very slowly with numerous stops for coffee or tea and jostling for positions in a car convoy. Many shots inside of vehicle and concentrating on conversations. This script would be more suited to a play than a movie. The family group appeared disorganized which was frustrating to watch. Story didn't seem to be going anywhere fast.

Unutterably tedious, aggravating and boring

[jmvscotland · 3/10 · 3 March 2021]

I always maintain that one has no right to rate or to comment here unless one watches all the way from beginning to the end credits. This means that I've watched an awful lot of truly crap movies all the way to the end and this one joins that group.

90 minutes here of fractious, annoying, noisy, shouty, aggravating and boring people gathered in one place for the fallout from the death of a sister.

The idea might have been good but the final product was, for me, a complete waste of time but, thankfully, only two dollars.

This is a movie not for laying down and keeping but rather for laying down and avoiding.

JMV

Very well written.

[digger-06358 · 7/10 · 2 March 2020]

This is not a movie about beautiful scenery or flashy special effects. It is a movie about dialogue with the interactions of family members the focal point. To some that might seem slow or boring, but the story that is told is a thinking person's movie. Written by one of the stars of the movie and very well directed by another actor of note (Stephen Moyer) this is a movie that is well worth watching. For viewers of my vintage it is awkward seeing Mary Richards boss looking so old and frail, so different from his role as Lou Grant.

Denis O'Hare has done a great job with this story and gives an excellent performance. The subject can be a bit depressing, but it is also an honest telling of a story that most people will at least be able to understand.

The only concern I had is that the movie does have an abrupt ending. Obviously by design so as to not resolve every issue that arises during their journey.

Be aware that this is not a feel good movie. But it is a good movie.

3 stars was for the music

[jennyrock-70509 · 3/10 · 25 June 2022]

I'm wondering who it is would find this family interesting? A lot of scenes where the family en route & then on arrival, comes across as loud, brash, ego-centric, stereotypical, not super differentiated from each other, all talking cacophonously & stridently over the top of each other about little of interest ....the deceased sister never really 'comes alive' in any meaningful way.....the supposed grief the family are experiencing never feels palpable or believable .....when the husband of the deceased complains about the family being such a tight closed unit, with all of their in house jokes, does he not know how lucky he is? To be an in-house member of such a family is to be condemned to superficial mediocrity but who knows, perhaps there are many Americans who can identify with this family.....I certainly cannot...but I'm not American and have always felt alienated by the oft portrayed assumption in film....although not overtly in this film, of the USA as the greatest nation on earth .....it is only covertly present in this film, if the people who made it anticipated a more global audience. Grief is universal but the discordant, self-absorbed, almost self congratulatory dynamic at work in this family with its inane humour, alienate the viewer from whatever grief the family is supposed to be processing ....I would go out of my way to avoid people for whom it is habitual to interact in the somewhat mindless manner portrayed here and sorry to the people behind this film, but this one was the straw that broke the camel's back.....the one where I thought, 'I can't watch another set of brash egocentric humans all talking over the top of each other and assuming what they have to say is interesting'....,note it's taken 6 decades to get here!

I kept going bc of 1) the music ....thoughtfully chosen & appropriate & in its thoughtfulness leading me to think there could be something worthwhile about to unfold & 2) a scene where the youngest sibling hides something in the deceased's bedroom.... I naively thought it was pointing to a murdered cover up & was waiting for this to unfold ...in a word, the family was too shallow for me to relate to & their grief, when it arose, not convincing & not moving.

A journey we can all idenfity with

[ListenToChris · 9/10 · 15 September 2019]

This film was a delight. As the trip progresses the family learn more about each other and about the impact their deceased sister had on them, and they on her. They open up old jokes and old rifts between them. They have parties and panic attacks. The father is a big character, set apart from his children by a generation. We see how they spent their final moments with their sister, and how they learn more about her demise. I've said enough, just go watch the film. My only critisism is that it should have been half an hour longer.

The Parting Glass - In Depth Journey

[krocheav · 7/10 · 2 March 2022]

Didn't know what to expect from this highly personal expression of grief and family introspection but certainly got more than expected from a terrific cast. Everyone delivers career confirming performances amid thoughtful situations - the like of which many viewers may or will, at some stage experience in one form or other. Veteran Ed Asner proves he's still remarkably good as the patriarchal father. Uniquely talented composer Nathan Barr underscores the personal drama - with a highly emotive music score capturing each nuance as we follow these searching souls - each wanting to take solace in any glimmer of hope they find, even if it's based on supposition. A couple of well placed songs add emotional power without being obvious.

Popular English actor and recovered alcoholic Stephen Moyer, is here, first-time director/producer. Moyer also directs his multi-nominated wife Anna Paquin (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee '07) and works well with award-winning cinematographer Guy Godfrey (Maudie '17). As independent features go this stands out for loving dedication to the human experience. Sensitive audiences will recognise the effort involved and follow these believable characters to the highly effective finale.

Star, Dennis O'Hare's personal and honest script runs warm and pensive with just the right amount of well placed humour. It seems like a sequence may have ended up on the cutting room floor, leaving a minor under-explained situation involving a late introduced family member but this does not overly hurt this thoughtful family journey. Recommended for lovers of movies offering examinations of real-life interactions - this fine work is not overly well known but deserves to be.

Boring

[ingamazonaite · 1/10 · 16 February 2021]

This movie ( a part which I watched) was slow and boring. Its kind of movie, where nothing happens and it's only dialogues, which were not interesting, neither were interesting people. After yawning half and hour, I switched it off.

Memories of a beloved Sister

[Maryjnberry · 9/10 · 18 February 2020]

This movie is so very intimate, each member of the family had memories of their sister, some very pointed toward the stress and anguish their beloved sister was experiencing. Each member of her family remembers moments they shared with their sister and the funny often hilarious family moments they all had together with their departed mother. Memories of a dear sister unexpectedly died, their emotions run high, when each of them remembers past conversations with her; each recognize belatedly the turmoil she was in, and realize that they missed the signs of her extreme distress. The cast is well chosen for their depiction of a family dynamic, have the expertise to show how the family members would handle the surprises they find along the way, very believable.