Welcome to The Rileys
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Welcome to The Rileys
Director: Jake Scott
Writer: Ken Hixon
Stars: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo
Lois: "When you open the door all the smoke comes inside."
Doug: "Then close the door, Lois."
Writer: Ken Hixon
Stars: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo
Lois: "When you open the door all the smoke comes inside."
Doug: "Then close the door, Lois."
It sort of feels like a verbally told story about an extraordinary situation or a blog post from Ridley Scott's son, Jake. More accurately, a character study immersed in a predictable script about broken people trying to gather back some of the pieces of their shattered lives but from the dark, seedy undertones a light emerges in the form of a man, named Doug (James Gandolfini), scratching with generosity, kindness and raw determination the wounds that remind him of his fragility.
Engulfing the viewer visually from the very first image of the film, a car in flames, Scott introduces a middle aged man who seems to live in Sam Mendes' "American Beauty", poker nights, flirting waffle waitresses and inviting his mistress to accompany him on a business trip to New Orleans.
Even more so, the semi-adventurous superficiality of his life juxtaposes with his agoraphobic wife, Lois (Melissa Leo), who seems to be stale and stuck in a horrible memory, the death of their teenage daughter, she abandons the idea of a future or present, keeping their lives on hold and preparing for the inevitable.
In a heart attack, his affair fades out and he's left alone in a smoky contemplation of everyone's fear, Doug's loneliness is a knife that cuts away the truth from his reality.
When a trip becomes an Odyssey is something that each one of us unconsciously has already pre-planned, so New Orleans bewitches Doug, unlike the island of the Lotus-Eaters, in the form of a teenage stripper who goes by many names, perhaps Mallory (Kristen Stewart) is not just a coincidence. Paternally, he makes the necessary choice to treat her as the one he lost.
What it takes for a movie to reach a certain emotional height is a little jump, a scare, an act that determines the shock value. "Welcome to the Rileys" decides to do neither, it prefers a slow, down to earth, step by step, through an over-the-top plot it reaches a sincere approach on the figurative mold of reality. It holds you by the hand, while it undermines the urban, natural phobia of a 16 year old sex worker, leading you outside the house.
The detailed path that Gandolfini follows in his attempt to suggest an authentic character should be studied. Calm and innovative, a heartfelt portrayal of a down to earth man dealing with the implausible. Kristen Stewart embraces the emotional turmoil of a runaway child, the animalistic urges and cynicism light up Mallory's damaged childhood. While, Melissa Leo is a profound exclamation that the script wouldn't work if not surrounded by the magnitude of these performances.
The dreary telegraph to post-Katrina New Orleans, contains the words of hope and memory but not the mournful thought that continuing on is a void action to no avail. Mallory is the oil that feeds Doug's fire, he's on a road that has no exit, a straight line on a dirty map, trying to balance himself in the bewildered dream of replicating his emotions, just for a few moments, just for a chance to start again.
