I've been searching for a way to accurately review a movie as purposefully unassuming and laconic as The Myth of Fingerprints. I've seen it a bunch of times and while watching it, I thoroughly enjoy it. That is, up until the end.
It just doesn't really work.
Writer/director Bart Freundlich seems determined to make a film that is as free of contrivance as can be. And he's done it. But the fundamental rule of screenwriting is that something must happen in order for the film to work. Without conflict, what are we watching?
In making a film about a reunited family over Thanksgiving weekend, he's taken away most of the cliches associated with such films. There is no huge, life-altering revelation. No one really hates anyone. No divorce, bastard children, catastrophe, or death. But The Myth of Fingerprints has conflict and it is of the sort that is rooted in who each of the characters were, more than who they are when we meet them.
Hal and Lena (Roy Scheider and Blythe Danner, always superb) have the kind of marriage where the wife will make all kinds of excuses and rationalizations for her husband's behavior, in spite of everyone else, even her children. Danner excels at the role. She emerges unscathed in the film precisely because she does love so unconditionally. Her children, perpetually angry Mia (preternaturally beautiful Julianne Moore), reserved Jake (Michael Vartan of TV's stellar Alias), peppy jokester Leigh (Laurel Holloman), and depressing Warren (Noah Wyle) have varying degrees of issues and they all stem from the apparent detachment and estrangement from Hal.
Of course none of this is in the film. What little plot there is revolves around Warren's (Wyle) issues with loosing his girlfriend, Daphne (Arija Bareikis). This is all tied up in why his relationship with Hal is the weakest. And while the overtones of this dilemma are nicely played, when it all finally comes out, it just feels too forced. Like Freundlich was searching for a way to wrap it up. Waiting till the 50 minute mark to introduce contrivance throws off the balance and the end of the movie cheats us of true resolution.
In truth, the kind of pain that Hal has inflicted (inadvertently? It is left up to us to decide) is so deep that any ending would be too pat. But this one throws all the weight on a situation that 80% of the characters are not involved in. And Scheider is unable to convey what could make Hal become the kind of man he is. And that isn't for a lack of trying. This may be his finest performance to date, but he is cheated by playing a character that should be a catalyst for change but isn't because the script is afraid of oversimplifying the complexity it set up so beautifully. In a way, I can admire the effort.
The Myth of Fingerprints is exceptional when it is portraying the awkward way the family and their guests interact. The film really comes alive. Freundlich excels at writing all the dynamics of the family. The dinner scenes are believably tense and the banter, mostly provided by Mia, is razor-sharp and insightful. But frequently scenes end too early and we get the feeling this nice little WASP family would never have an all out fight. Essentially, Freundlich got everyone in one place to have it out and never lets them do it. It is a bit manipulative in that everyone, for all the superb work by the actors, is constrained. And there is no place for them to really go.
And yet there is a warmth to the whole enterprise. From the way the girls say "Daddy", to the way Danner dotes on her kids without actually doting on them. From Wyle, Vartan, and Holloman trying to get Moore's Mia to play football to the believable sex all the characters have at the beginning. Even the thinly drawn subplot with a man from Mia's past played by James LeGros is touching. Watching Holloman, as Leigh, try to turn all the issues and anger and resentment into humor is just great. A lazy viewer would think she's just comic relief, but Holloman uses her closeups to really convey the deep concern she has for her family. Vartan is better than his material, because his character is really not there. Wyle, as the nominal lead, carries almost all the weight and, to his credit, the film does not fail because of him. He's quite good and his chemistry with Bareikis is believably tender. But he is probably the least interesting character. Julianne Moore is a steely delight. Few actors really embrace being thoroughly unlikable and because she does we do like Mia.
The film tries to make a statement about the variety of ways a parent can leave his mark (fingerprint) on his kids. No two fingerprints are the same, and each of Hal's children is affected in a profoundly different way by his emotional distance. In this way, The Myth of Fingerprints succeeds. But since nothing much else happens, it ends up being a snap shot in the life of a family instead of a turning point.
Blythe Danner, Julianne Moore, Roy Scheider and Noah Wyle head up an incredible ensemble cast in this bittersweet comedy about a family reunion that g...More at Walmart
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