Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet’s performances are raw, honest and unflinching. Belgian Director Felix Van Groeningen aims the camera at his actors and lets them carry out scenes. One of the most poignant is 12 minutes long. The Director gave more details about that scene and the film’s structure in our interview during the Chicago International Film Festival. His straightforward style begins to feel somewhat formulaic on purpose to show the inevitable cycle of addiction, recovery and re-lapse played out over and over again.
The source material for Australian writer Luke Davies’ (Lion) script drew from the published memoirs of both David and Nick Sheff, father and son. That includes the broken marriage with Vicki (Amy Ryan – Birdman) and scenes showing the way Nic had to travel to spend time with both per their custody agreement. In our interview with Director Groeningen, he told us which book he drew more from and why, while trying to find the right balance.
Timotheé Chalamet proves that his turn in Call Me By Your Name was not just a one-hit-wonder. He’s only 22 and delivers a a remarkably honest, intense portrayal of Nic’s descent into methamphetamine addiction. Steve Carrell plays his father, David, a journalist. He’s been battling for years to get through to Nic and try to extricate his son from the drug’s grip.
Steve Carell has the tough job of playing the supportive, loving father in perpetual despair as he searches for ways to save his son. As an actor, he has to keep a lid on his emotions while Chalamet is given free reign to go completely over-the-top. At times Carell falls into spouting what comes off as banal bromides of parental advice. But it just shows how he’s at wit’s end trying to comprehend and change the situation.
When the movie begins to feel repetitive and threatens to lose our interest, Chalamet grabs the camera and forces us back into his spell. His ability to channel teenage mood swings from funny and obedient to crazy belligerence layered with meth are mesmerizing. When they meet on neutral ground for coffee at a diner to try and patch things up, they can’t find common ground. In the depths of the drugs’ hold, he tells his father, “You don’t know who am I am. This is me, Dad, this is who I am now.” It’s the focal moment that reveals addiction even more than taking the drugs. The frustration not understanding each other on both sides has grown out of control.
The women in this story are given even less to do. David’s first wife (and Nic’s mother), Vicki cries a lot not knowing what to do, but their love for their son brings she and David back to communicating with each other.
Present wife Karen (Maura Tierney) is little more than a sounding board for Nic who she considers more a friend than a step-son. She really cares about him but knows this is his father’s battle, not hers. Tierney really breaks out in a powerful scene that becomes an emotional high point in the film when she takes off after Nic in her car, chasing him as he flees from the family home.
Tierney drives with reckless abandon determined to catch up with Nic. It’s the one moment when someone other than David confronts the boy’s illness. Asked if he directed Tierney a certain way, van Groeningen said he couldn’t be in the car with her for that scene. There were 2 cameramen inside the car to capture intensity and absurdity of the notion that her driving madly to catch up to him could actually save Nic. The director credits Tierney with her wild ride and the emotion she portrayed with it.
The structure of the film is little hard to follow. The timeline bounces around a bit. Van Groeningen throws in flashbacks with clues as to what happened during their lives. But the young boys cast in these flashbacks made us wonder, at times, if they were really supposed to be Nic at a young age. They didn’t seem to look like the pictures on the wall of Nic when young with any similar characteristics. We found that a little confusing.
This is a story of blame, shame, control, and loss of trust. van Groeningen says the only thing that can save the family is love and that was what he was trying to show here.
It’s tough to watch in a film season releasing several about families fighting drug issues. This one is little hard to follow at times, but watching Carell and Chalamet spar is definitely worth seeing. The director even describes watching them work together was often like watching a tennis match. But you’ll be hoping, as you watch, that they both score love.
Amazon Studios 112 Minutes R
