Review of Joy (2015) by Nedryerson1 — 13 Mar 2016

Joy as the new movie of David O. Russell stays far behind from his previous features. The major topic that treats is basically the same, it’s a lost protagonist defeated by life, with a family behinds trying to control him and, of course, living throw him too.

All these set in the slums, because is from the director’s belief that those environments bring out the worse of all people in order to survive. And the parade starts with Joy Mangano, a single mother, with an inventor mind that carries with a parasite family, sucking her life that won’t stop until there’s nothing left.

She is accompanied by a mother stuck watching an endless soap opera, all day long; a failed father with anger and trust issues; an immature ex-husband that lives in her basement; and a jealous sister with nothing to lose.

The problems of the film begins when that family is moved aside in the story and we see nothing but the protagonist fighting for her dreams, although is impressive the real struggle of Mangano, seeming like a melodrama; the seal of this director is how he manage to have a big group of people floating around a person trying to move on.

That’s when the viewer notices the power of the family and its deepest thoughts that scares you and makes you feel trapped. David O. Russell is marvelous directing actors, Jennifer Lawrence certainly captures the director idea for her performances and the family is, ones again, well achieved.