Review of Blood Ties (2014) by Scubasteve Walter M — 07 May 2014

Okay so I feel really ashamed for torrenting this I never torrent anything but I had to torrent because marion cotillard and because it was never showing at any theaters here in seattle and I couldnt wait for it to be on netflix if it were to ever even be on netflix who knows ya know so yeah I had to torrent im ashamed but I dont regret because it was awesome lemme tell you about it okay okay im gonna stick my head in the microwave hot pocket.

Based on the French film Rivals based on the novel Les Liens Du Sang, Blood Ties tells a familiar story but unexpectedly crescendos up to a spectacular ending.

Dwight McCarthy and Dr. Jon Osterman are brothers who have faced struggles all their lives. With each other, with themselves, with the world, with life.

Dwight has just served twelve years in prison, but not as a slave, and comes out with a mission to be criminally free. He's upset his brother never paid him a visit the last nine years.

Jon is seeking his second chance at love with a woman who has a child with a man he just put in prison. He's upset his father favored his brother over him.

BTWz, their father is also Elf's biological father. So I guess they're related to Buddy the Elf.

Yes, folks, this film is flawed. But more on that later.

First and foremost, the performances here are to die for. Each and every one of these performers know their characters front to back. So even whenever it may seem like the characters have been underwritten, or poorly developed, you instantly scrap that idea because all the performances are so confident and real.

I never once thought if I were to even live 4000 lifetimes that Clive Owen would ever make me cry. And you know what? He does. Definitely once, maybe twice.

I have always believed Billy Crudup had it in him to blow audiences away with his mild-mannered, quiet demeanor approach to his characters. If you thought he was as good as I thought he was in Watchmen, wait 'til you see his work in this flick.

Zoe Saldana is really beginning to develop her craft, having extremely shined in both Out Of The Furnace and Blood Ties, despite playing smaller roles. This gal is ready to carry a film on her own shoulders and break your heart doing so.

Marion Cotillard is hard to judge because my amour for her is ridiculously high. Having said that, this is not her best work. She has very few scenes and for a while plays the "bad girl" type, and that's not always convincing to me because I can't help but see her as an exquisite angel! But thinking objectively, while not her best work she certainly still has her fantastic moments. I think her character may have been a tad underwritten, though.

James Caan is good. Nothing to highly praise, nothing to highly criticize. Gets you to like his character just enough. He plays it really safe.

Mila Kunis's character is honestly pointless and her performance neither sparkles or crumbles. Just there. Hi Mila bye Mila.

Matthias Schoenerts has brief screen times but he does all he can to make them matter. Considering that, I felt he was quite convincing. Especially in his prison scenes.

Side note: All these characters, excluding Zoe's, have accents. Billy and Marion are the only ones that are constantly consistent with them.

Now, the flaws really worth pointing out fall under Guillaume Canet, the film's co-writer and director.

Blood Ties takes place in the early 1970s, so Canet tries really hard to capture the essence of crime dramas from the same era. He succeeds just as often as he fails, yet somehow in the same exact areas too. There are times he excels in the action and crime, and times when he doesn't. There are times he excels in the drama and the heart, and times when he doesn't. He often makes the mistake of playing music when he can't figure out what to do.

So many musical numbers ...

Whether the following is Canet's fault or the other co-writer, filmmaker James Gray, is unclear but at times I felt the film was getting confused. Including events that don't really matter or really have a purpose, including a character or so of zero value. With a title like Blood Ties, the filmmakers should prioritize the idea of family above all else. Instead, Canet / Gray try to touch on a lot of the crime aspects to this and juggle that with the family aspects. Do we put crime drama first? Or family drama first? As a result, it never manages to drop any bowling pins but you can tell the juggler is struggling. If it had narrowed its focus, to be more about the family, this film could have four times as good as it already is.

Luckily for Blood Ties, the family aspects are that strong. The entire duration of the film I was only thinking that the film was okay. Debating whether to give it a two or a two-point-five. Afraid it was going to have a flat or generic or just straight-up stupid ending. But, then I learned, at the last ten minutes or so, the whole film was leading up to those last moments and everything before it set up for it.

The accidental slow and broken pacing is totally excused, the thirst for more familial interaction is totally fulfilled, with its unpredicted but extraordinary escalated climax.

It hits the feels, man.

Now, for some of the technical stuff.

SOUND DESIGN.

I don't know if it was due to the quality of my torrent, but the sound design was incredible. Raw.

The soundscapes were present any time they'd be in reality and at the exact volume. One of the many instances: there's a scene with Caan and Cruddup in the car together. And they're near a train. The train comes by and you can hear the two just enough. It truly sounds like it would if you were in that car with them while that train passed by.

The acoustics in any given location was spot-on. One of the many instances: in the scene Owen meets Kunis, he's mopping the floors or something in the office of the lot he works at. She's sitting at her desk across the room. Their dialogue exchange bounced exactly how they would off those walls if you were there. Plus the soundscapes are there too, doing their trick.

Same goes for the gunshots, whether it be a handgun or a shotgun, whether they be inside or outside. They sounded like they would anywhere they were fired. They lacked the heavy bass booms tacked on by all post-production sound editors these days. The brawls as well. When flesh was hitting flesh, it sounded like flesh really hitting flesh. Lacking the added heavy bass thuds.

As I said before, though, this could be because of the torrent quality. But I really hope I'm wrong about that.

The cinematography isn't out of the ordinary. It's like James Caan's performance in a way; nothing to highly praise, nothing to highly criticize, it's safe. It's common sense cinematography, really.

So yeah. Enough about all that.

Blood Ties wasn't the film it could or should have been, but it's characters and performances and dynamic lead up to something so emotionally cathartic, you'll want to be a part of the family anyway.

Three out of four mangos.