Attracted by a good cast, Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, David Strathairn, I checked this film out of the library. Not since 'Elivra Madigan' in the 60's have I endured such a boring film. After 20 minutes of suffering through long pauses and slow responses between characters speaking to each other, I fast forwarded to the end. Not only did the pauses of at least two seconds, which in a conversation is an eternity, especially as one character is totally immobile while the other fiddles with her hair, grimaces, puts her hand up to her mouth, lips tremble and whatever else she learned at the school of bad acting.I enjoy foreign language films and am happy with a slow pace if it engrosses me, but this did not hold my attention for even five minutes. If they had trimmed the conversational pauses, and the characters standing stock still for no reason, they could have lopped an hour off the film, or at least filled in more dialog. I should have been warned by the blurb on the box which spoke of the dysfunctional family of a deceased woman each trying to reconcile their emotions and deal with her death in their own way. I will know better next time. When did all this hair chewing, hand wringing, voice trembling and verbal stumbling, or rigid immobility, begin to pass for acting? I watch films of the 40's and 50's which had none of this, yet it seems everywhere these days. The high school girl unable to read words of more than one syllable (or was it more than three letters) without stumbling as the camera stayed on her for five minutes. Was this a school for developmentally handicapped teenagers? The other thing which annoyed the heck out of me, but this may be my age, was the apologetic father who let his younger son get away with foul mouthed insolence when he should have smacked that out of him a long time ago. It was not Gene's fault that his son was a brat. I never want to see another film where parents take the blame for the bad behavior of their children.My overall opinion: a pretentious time waster.

Louder Than Bombs is a very earnest film that ultimately succeeds because its heart is in the right place. All the actors are very convincing in their portrayal as a close family that is devastated when the mother Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert) dies. Previously, she had suffered emotional conflict from being a very successful war photographer and having to combine that with motherhood and home life. As her damaged younger son Conrad, actor Devin Druid utterly steals the movie from his more experienced co-stars including Gabriel Byrne as his Dad and Jesse Eisenberg as his much older brother, Jonah. Druid conveys a keen intelligence but also depression, isolation, and trying to work out his problems on his own. A really demanding role and he succeeds beautifully. Gabriel Byrne has a fairly easy role as a very caring father who doesn't know how to handle Conrad's behaviour. Eisenberg's role is not as defined as Druid's -- Jonah's wife has just had a baby, Jonah has an affair, he tries to catalogue his mother's photographs but to me it didn't amount to much. Contrary to the film's title, there isn't a lot in the movie about Isabelle's work in war torn countries. I guess the movie is more about grief - about how the three men aren't coping at first, and how they eventually learn to cope. Special mention to a a smaller but lovely role from Ruby Jerins, playing Conrad's love interest Melanie. Jerins had a strong part as the nurse's troubled daughter in the TV series Nurse Jackie, and here she plays the quintessential flawed teenager very well.

"Louder Than Bombs" (2015 release from Norway/France; 109 min.) brings the story of the Reed family. As the movie opens, we see Jonah Red (played by Jesse Eisenberg) in the hospital with his wife and their newborn baby. After the movie's opening credits, we then shift to Isabelle Reed (played by Isabelle Huppert), a NYT was photographer who perished a few years ago and is now the subject of a retrospective. The NYT reporter who worked with her is going to write a long piece on it, and gives a heads up to widower Gene Reed (played by Gabriel Byrne). Finally, we also get to know Conrad Reed, the younger brother of Jonah. Conrad is struggling in high school, and also at home. At this point we're about 15 minutes into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier, whose previous movie, 2011's "Oslo, August 31st" was outstanding. This is his first English language movie, and here Trier dives into a complex family drama. It took me a while to figure out who was who, and what exactly is going on. Perhaps the emotional linchpin of the movie is young Conrad (played by newcomer--for me anyway Devin Druid), who's sulking character at first is not very likable, but as more and more peels of the onion are removed, the Conrad character is developed deeper and fuller. When older brother Jonah urges Conrad to "sit out" the high school years, Conrad nods but of course does the exact opposite... The movie structure for "Louder Than Bombs" is further complicated because of the multiple flashbacks involving Isabelle. And how exactly did she die anyway? This movie reminded me at times of the Robert Redford-directed family drama "Ordinary People" from 1980. In other words: heavy duty stuff. I don't know whether Eisenberg has played a better role in his still relatively young career. He is vulnerable as the older brother and the husband, trying to deal with a lot of things coming at him in life. Also keep your eyes out for a fairly small role from up-and-coming Rachel Brosnahan as Jonah's ex-girlfriend Erin. People sometimes make good choices, sometimes bad choices, "but you can't plan for what happens after you've made a choice", cautions the NYT journalist at one point. There is a lot of good music in the film, both as to the original score composed by Ola Fløttum (unknown to me), and as to other incidental music (including Tangerine Dream's "Love On a Real Train" in a newly re-recorded and extended version).The theater's Sunday matinée screening where I saw this at this past weekend turned out to be a private screening, as in: I literally was the only person in the theater. That is a darn shame. I recognize that this type of film isn't going to attract big crowds, but not even a small crowd? Jeez... Maybe this movie will find a larger audience on VOD or when it is eventually released on DVD/Blu-ray. Regardless, if you are in the movie for a heavy duty family drama that features some great performances, you cannot go wrong with this. "Louder Than Bombs" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes we just can't "get over it". Three years after a war photographer dies in a suspicious car accident, her husband and two sons find themselves in various states of emotional distress. Everyone deals with guilt in their own way, but these three seem to be doing anything and everything to avoid actually dealing with the emotional fallout.Writer/director Joachim Trier (Oslo, August 31) delivers his first English-speaking film with an assist from co-writer Eskil Vogt and a terrific cast. As we would expect from Mr. Trier, it's a visually stylish film with some stunning images … and the timeline is anything but simple as we bounce from past to present, and from the perspective of different characters (sometimes with the same scene).The creativity involved with the story telling and technical aspects have no impact whatsoever on the pacing. To say that the film is meticulously paced would be a kind way of saying many viewers may actually get restless/bored with how slowly things move at times. Trier uses this pacing to help us experience some of the frustration and discomfort that each of the characters feel.Isabelle Huppert plays the mother/wife in some wonderful flashback and dream-like sequences, while Gabriel Byrne plays her surviving husband. Jesse Eisenberg as Jonah, and Devin Druid as Conrad are the sons, and as brothers they struggle to connect with each other … just as the father struggles to connect with each of them. In fact, it's a film filled with characters who lie to each other, lie to themselves, and lie to others. It's no mystery why they are each miserable in their own way. The suppressed emotions are at times overwhelming, and it's especially difficult to see the youngest son struggle with social aspects of high school … it's a spellbinding performance from Devin Druid ("Olive Kitteridge").Jesse Eisenberg manages to tone down his usual hyper-obnoxious mannerisms, yet still create the most unlikable character in the film … and that's saying a lot. Mr. Byrne delivers a solid performance as the Dad who is quite flawed, and other supporting work is provided by David Strathairn and Amy Ryan. The shadow cast by this woman is enormous and deep … and for nearly two hours we watch the family she left behind come to grips with her death and each other. It's a film done well, but only you can decide if it sounds like a good way to spend two hours.