What would you do to save your mother’s life? For most people that’s a hypothetical. For John, though, it’s a pressing concern that may cost him dearly.
This is an early review – Glassland opens in the U.S. on March 18th (it opens in select Canadian theaters and VOD on March 11th).
John (Jack Reynor, Transformers: Age of Extinction) works nights driving a taxi. When he comes home, he never knows if he’s going find his mother, Jean (Toni Collette, United States of Tara, The Way Way Back) lying in a pool of her vomit, or raging like a cornered beast because there’s booze in the house.
When he’s not working or looking after his mother, he’s hangin’ with his best friend, Shane (Will Poulter, Maze Runner, Shameless) – playing video games, watching telly, whatever…
After her latest pool of vomit incident, her doctor tells John that her liver is just about ready to pack it in – she’s going to need a liver transplant, soon, but won’t even be considered until she’s sober.
John – who had the foresight to record one of her rages on his phone – manages to get her into a government run rehab, but they can’t keep her for more than seven or eight days. After that, he’s going to need to find big money to pay for a private rehab facility – which he can’t afford.
What to do? Maybe something shady…?
Glassland – written and directed by Gerard Barrett (Pilgrim Hill) – is an almost unrelentingly grim film about the reality of what alcoholism does to the alcoholic and their family and friends. It’s not pretty – but it also isn’t your standard addiction/recovery-or-death movie, either.
It may be mostly dark and grim in tone, but there are moments of light and hope – John and Shane’s friendship provides a few well earned (and needed) laughs and a few more with John and his Down Syndrome brother, Kit (Harry Nagle). There are even a couple of fun moments with John and Jean – though one of them involves both of them drinking and rapidly turns sour when Jean tells him about her past (and why she doesn’t want to see Kit).
Barrett has shot the film with very little brightness – even the rehab facilities feel just the littlest bit oppressive – even though a good part of it takes place during the day. However dark and grim Glassland might feel – just because of the lighting and weather – it suits the subject matter perfectly.
Reynor is as close to perfect as you can get as John. We can feel his anguish, frustration and anger – but most of all, his love for the mother he wants back.
Collette is equally powerful as Jean – capturing shadows of the playful fun woman she must have been once as well as the raging and maudlin sides of her disease.
Glassland is a hard watch, but never a slog. It’s as honest about its subject and characters as possible. It’s won prizes on the festival circuit (including a Jury Prize at Sundance in 2014) and deserves them.
Final Grade: A-
Photos courtesy of Kaleidoscope