Winter Passing

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Zooey Deschanel!  I have liked her in everything I’ve seen.  She’s a great actress and it was no different for this movie.

Winter Passing is about a drug addict daughter (Deschanel) who must go home to see her seriously dysfunctional father to take care of some financial issues.  She is a struggling actress who needs money to continue her drug habits and she has been offered a small fortune to allow the love letters between her parents to be published.  So Reese heads home to retrieve the letters.

When she arrives she finds two strangers living in her former home and her father living in the old garage.  The strangers turn out to be an ex-grad student and a wannabe musician who teach her many things about her father and life in general.

The movie is phenomenal because it doesn’t sugar coat life or give us a happy feeling at the end.  There is yelling and manipulation and frustration and so many other things that all of us have experienced in our own families.  It makes us care about Reese a little more.

The casting was perfect and all dove into their characters with great focus.  Will Ferrell plays the stage frightened musician, Ed Harris plays the reclusive father, and Amelia Warner is the ex-grad student who treats everyone like a child.

The cinematography was great and felt like you were sitting on the couch as this crazy “family” got into fights or tried to sit quietly at the dinner table.  The colors and lighting continued the story through the sets and props and really creatd a place of believability.

Rating: * * * *