Review of The Magic of Belle Isle (2012) by Troy K — 25 Nov 2017

Excellent movie. So real, yet so introspective. While there is a lot of denial in the movie emotionally, still it's a good story. Key elements of denial: Monté going cold turkey off of alcohol w/o any symptoms, Charlotte going through the divorce putting on a nice face, shining everyone on while her marriage is being destroyed by divorce; the daughters moving on through and on after the divorce with narry a tear shed.

Reiner could have gone a little bit farther with allowing the emotional pain to be seen. He did do this with Monté but just didn't go far enough. Still the movie was a sweet movie. Oddly, the husband and father is never seen in the movie.

.. I would consider that a bit of man-father-husband bashing... on the other hand, he didn't even show at the birthday party. We can only surmise that it hurts too much to see those he loves while he is emotionally disintegrating because of the upcoming divorce.

Oddly, Charlotte returns from NYC after working with lawyers with narry a tear for what has just been lost.... we just don't know the backstory so we are left to wonder.... regardless, I enjoyed the movie because it connected with my own suffering in divorce, remarriage and widowhood.

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