Review of Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) by Offworld_Colony — 19 Feb 2020

I've never seen a Robert Benton film but now I'm hooked and not often does a film pop and resonate so much that I want to envelop myself in an entire filmography of its creators.

Additionally, I expected this film (one I have never seen) to be a comedy, the poster and the title made me look forward to a zany, light-hearted, early-80's family picture with some sentiment and darker sprinkles towards the end. Boy was I wrong. Yes, the film develops its sense of humour, beautifully I might add, but it's first and foremost a serious drama about evolving gender roles, mental health, love, jobs and parenthood.

The Vivaldi music is perfectly placed and utilised, the film encompasses so many little character quirks and small moments without being unfilmic. It manages to have an intimate male/female relationship without it ever looking like it will blossom in to cliche romantic love and there's no question that Streep and Hoffman won't get back together which focus the movie. Despite the film's theatricality and ancientnesss, it's still a relevant film today I feel in many ways. Today it would be made to show a more female POV (and perhaps it should) but at the time I think it very much set out to show other Men that Men could have the same hearts.