The Cathedral

Sometimes it takes a different point of view to get a handle on the true nature of a situation. Such is the case with writer-director Ricky D'Ambrose's third feature outing, a meditation on family life as seen from the perspective of a child of few words during his upbringing from a toddler to college freshman. As an observer of grown-ups behaving badly, he witnesses the decline of his own family's coherence and viability over two decades, providing a microcosmic metaphor of what was happening in the country at large from the mid 80s to the turn of the new millennium. It's a story told with a unique collection of visuals, presenting an array of images from family celebrations to everyday events in a deliberate, documentary-esque style, intercut with footage from news stories and TV commercials from the intervening years to provide historical context. And, continuing a trend common in 2022, it's highly autobiographical, depicting a narrative not unlike that of the filmmaker's own middle class upbringing on Long Island and fleshed out with a fine ensemble cast, especially Brian d'Arcy James as the protagonist's volatile, unpredictable father. However, despite the film's refreshingly different take typical of domestic life and coming of age tales, much of this story is so slice-of-life that it tends to become mundane, if not banal. The number of overlong shots of household objects, children's artwork, and walls, floors and doors could have easily been scaled back, freeing up screen time for more intriguing and meaningful content. The film's voiceover narrations supplying extended back story details about a plethora of characters who can be difficult to distinguish from one another often leaves viewers in need of a scorecard to keep track of who's who. And the noticeable lack of insight into the protagonist's own mind can sometimes be puzzling, if not frustrating, leaving audiences genuinely wondering what he thinks about everything that's going on around him. Unfortunately, these shortcomings undercut the inventiveness of the picture's other fine attributes, causing the overall production to come up shorter than it might have otherwise. It takes the notion that children should be seen and not heard to a new level, reinforcing a notion that's long overdue for change.

Some terrific acting in this movie. I liked the format more than I expected I would. A lot of realistic relationships. Some of the stills could've been eliminated or shortened, but that was only occasionally. I also had a little trouble following who was related to whom. So pay attention in the beginning as best you can.

I particularly liked the acting by the father Richard. You could just see the tension building up within him before he would explode. Also the elderly grandmother/great grandmother was portrayed in such a human way. It was actually scary as it makes you realize how vulnerable older people can be.

The young actors are also excellent.

This is not a B-movie, because you can tell that the director really put an effort in making something special, at which he failed spectacularly.

Not anything good? The actors aint terrible, although they most certainly do not have any charisma or acting talent. The photography is okayish, although quite bland and often boring to watch.

The bad: what is most troubling about this movie is that it is incredibly tedious. I get it, some movie directors use silence and still shots wherein nothing much happens, to enlarge an emotion, but only the very best directors are capable of expressing emotions with mere images and nothing else. This amateur director aimed to high and utterly failed at making something worth watching.

Originally Premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT Selection.

"The Cathedral" is about during the late '80s and early '90s, the Damrosch family's only child, Jesse, watches his family's quiet rise and fall. This is the Third Feature film from Ricky D'Ambrose and while I am not an fan of Avant-garde style of filmmaking, D'Ambrose approach on melodrama and family surprised did work on me.

The film explores themes of growing up, family dysfunctional, and time as the direction really helps to build up time and growth. D'Ambrose is able to take a unique style of both narrative and somewhat documentary feeling about a family story which is based loosely from D'Ambrose's life. There are many uses of newsreels of live footages from famous events to add to context of time and changes to express the films exploration of the character's growing up years and it really worked out.

The performances from the cast are all pretty good although certain performances felt wooden, the sound design is good and the dialogue is pretty realistic and nature as it feels like a real life conversation. The pacing is one of the weaker elements as it does drag a little and as I mentioned, because some performances are wooden, it did felt a little messy when the writing and tone plays together. But it didn't bother me too much.

Overall, it's an interesting take about a simple family melodrama that worked with me. I don't recommend to everyone since it's not a popcorn kind of film and mainly for art house lovers. But if you are interested. Check it out

Rating: B+

The Cathedral had very poor direction, boring narration, amateur writing and too many dead scenes (stills of mundane things) that did not carry the story forward. I found this film very hard to watch, so I tried skipping ahead and did not find anything new. The Cathedral had very poor direction, boring narration, amateur writing and too many dead scenes (stills of mundane things) that did not carry the story forward. I found this film very hard to watch, so I tried skipping ahead and did not find anything new. The Cathedral had very poor direction, boring narration, amateur writing and too many dead scenes (stills of mundane things) that did not carry the story forward. I found this film very hard to watch, so I tried skipping ahead and did not find anything new.