'The Living' is about unintended consequences arising from difficult decisions clouted by complicated personalities and troubled minds. It is a nice indie dark movie, with several highlights but some compromising flaws.Acting is surprisingly good, with actors punching way above their weight. This his the highlight of the movie. The slow scenes with agonizing seconds of silences give them a dark and deep vibe, and the actors nail it, looking natural and very comfortable on screen.The context of the story plot is very cliché, however, as it revolves about the struggles of a battered woman and her alcoholic husband who loves-her-even-though-he-hit-her. Strangely, the lack of character development isn't that much detrimental on 'The Living' as it would be in many other movies, as the focus quickly shifts to the mental state and how the characters process the situation they got themselves involved with, instead of just re-telling a worn-out and over-used simple story line. Finally, editing seems to be hurried up, as it is the case of so many otherwise promising indie productions, unfortunately. As I mentioned, many individual scenes are harrowing, deep and engaging, but the transitions don't work that well, which is frustrating.I give 'The Living' a 6/10 score, realizing I'm averaging some very good marks with poor ones. Having so much quality disparity is what, in my opinion, makes the difference between some other reviews here that swing from critical 3s to glowing 9s and 10s.

Movie Review!!!The Living (2014) Starring no one you'd know by name but may have seen here & there. This guy wakes up after a bender where he blacks out. He discovers he beat the living crap out of his wife but doesn't remember it. Her brother is a total loser and a meek little dweeb. Probably because he's really emotionally beaten down by his loser mom. He decides to hire a hit man to kill his brother in law. Now, this whole process & his relationship with the hit-man is super stressful. The hit-man keeps telling him he's too much of a coward to do this himself so he pays someone to do it. Albeit true, it's just another person telling him what a POS he is. There's no dancing around the ending. Bang. Done. Grade: B+ although I gave away the story, is still recommend it.

This movie is a superb combination of thriller and socially conscious film-making. I've never really seen a film that is as good. The acting is great all around. The characters are nuanced. The problem of domestic violence is subtly depicted. The courage of the filmmakers is obvious from the start. I highly recommend this film. My one reservation concerns the depiction of the killer as southern. But the portrayal of people wiling to forgive is truly amazing and impressive. So, I agree totally with this other review: I saw this movie at a screening in Boston MA sponsored by Emerson college. I was impressed with the content of the film and how Jack Bryan the writer/director incorporates his characters and intertwines their lives into the dark depths of alcoholism and domestic violence. His choice of cast members was right on and I particularly liked his portrayal of the killer played by Chris Mulkey. I was surprised by the ending but not disappointed. This is a must see movie. I hope to have the opportunity to experience more works from this group of talented writers, directors, and producers along with all members who made this film what it is.

A young husband Teddy beats up his wife Molly . Disgusted by this Molly's brother Gordon puts a plan of revenge in to action that leads to consequences !!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!! A independent film from writer /director Jack Bryan who might be worth keeping an eye on . Being an indie film it lacks big names , big budget and is a little slow but this is more than compensated by the performances and a subtext that an eye for an eye leads to universal blindness . When Gordon hires Howard the hit-man I did think we'd be seeing a plot turn where Teddy goes back to beating up Molly therefore any violence inflicted upon him is entirely justified . This predcibility doesn't happen however and is the better for it as Teddy pulls out all the stops to make things back up to Molly. . Most of the structure takes place via dual plotting where one half of the plot concentrates on Teddy and Molly's relationship woes and the other half on Gordon and Howard . There is a slight bugbear to some of this such as why would a hit-man allow a client to visit his home and you're aware this is simply to set up the ending . In other words it's a bit too mechanical to be overly successful but as a dramatic thriller it's not unimpressive