Welcome to the Rileys

A very realistic film compared to similar character dramas: Welcome to the Rileys features excellent casting, writing and direction. Welcome to the Rileys is a movie about what love really is: not sex and emotion, but the absence of anger, having absolute patience and leading women in the right way to be.

For example: The protagonist is not written as a perfect man, but its clear the writer knows what a perfect man is, and, that it's achievable.

The cinematography felt very raw almost like a faux documentary. The film will appeal most to adults who appreciate nuance and subtlety.

Doug Riley is a plumbing supplies contractor from Indianapolis who lives with his wife Lois and reaching their 30th wedding anniversary. After they lost their 15 year old daughter in a tragic car accident the couple has grown distant with no exchange of intimate relationship and spoken barely few words a day. It seems like Doug and Lois both miss their lives inside yet don't know where to begin in finding it again. Meanwhile Doug finds comfort in a black waitress yet that relationship doesn't last long either even though it brings some kind of a peace in to Doug's life. Lost and torn this couple seems to be just living their days for nothing.

Doug goes to New Orleans for a convention and there he unexpectedly meets a 16 year old girl Mallory who is a stripper. Rather than taking advantage of her with her own consent Doug see someone else in her and starts to emotionally care for her. He somehow makes in an ambition to take this teenage girl out of her miserable life and give her some comfort and long lost fatherhood. But this task become difficult by the day as Mallory resist to change or to accept Doug's generosity even though she know his genuine motives.

'Welcome to the Riley's' is a heartfelt drama. Most of the moments are silent and filled with self perseverance but the script gradually builds up a solid story line. It's not boring even though it's a little slow which almost all dramas are. But there is something special about this one. This one is about self retribution. Don't know if it's totally correct to describe it that way but I feel like Doug is trying to find peace in his heart by dedicating his effort to make a something good for Mallory. The society is a wicked place to be good some times which the script proves over and over. The harsh words coming out of Mallory's mouth must have pierced Doug's heart one too many times. Yet he patiently set on his path which maybe his experience in life has tough him to do so.

Acting wise the movie is mention worthy. Doug played by James Gandolfini is a role skillfully done. And at the same time Melissa Leo effectively plays Lois the depressed, grieving mother who hasn't set foot out of the house for months. And finally the Twilight famed Kristen Stewart portraying the damaged and arrogant stripper girl make us forget her glamorous lead role in the romantic vampire franchise with her performance in 'Welcome to the Riley's'.

As a viewer you will be made to judge these characters. You will be asked to decide if what they do is right or wrong or if they did really succeeded in their roles at the end. Even thought it has no fairy tale ending this movie will live in your minds for a long time.

read more of my reviews at flickshout.blogspot.com

In Indianapolis, Douglas Lloyd 'Doug' Riley (James Gandolfini) and Lois Riley (Melissa Leo) are a estranged couple married for almost thirty years that grieves the loss of their fifteen year-old daughter Emily. Doug is a well succeeded businessman in plumbing business that likes to play poker every Thursday with his friend and to meet his mistress, the waitress Vivian (Eisa Davis), after the game. Lois is agoraphobic, takes many pills and does not have sex with Doug.

When Vivian unexpectedly has a heart attack and dies, Doug goes to the cemetery and finds a tombstone that Lois has ordered with her and his names. This is the last straw in their relationship and Doug travels to a plumbing conference in New Orleans feeling lost. Doug is wandering on the streets and stumbles with a nightclub. The young stripper and prostitute Mallory (Kristen Stewart) invites Doug to a private lap dance and when he see his acquaintances from the conference in the nightclub, he accepts her invitation to hide from them but he does not have sex with the teenager. There is an incident but then he takes Mallory home and decides to stay in her derelict house to help her. Doug calls Lois and tells to her that he would stay in New Orleans for a while. Lois decides to drive to New Orleans in Doug's car and he introduces her to Mallory, whose real name is Allison. The couple projects Emily in Allison, but is there still hope or is it too late for Allison and themselves?

"Welcome to the Rileys" is a family drama supported by the magnificent Kristen Stewart, James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo. Kristen Stewart is an actress that seems to be tailored to indie movies. The screenplay discloses the past events that have separated Doug and Lois to the viewer piece by piece. The story could have been of second chance in life and redemption, but the writer Ken Hixon chooses a more realistic conclusion but leaving some hope. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Corações Perdidos" ("Lost Hearts")

Greetings again from the darkness. Reading the synopsis on this one could lead you to believe you've seen the same thing 40 other times - an indie flick where a nice guy rescues the teenage runaway who has fallen into a life of stripping/prostitution. This assumption would be incorrect. What sets this one apart is the script from writer Ken Hixon and the acting trio of James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo.

Two of those names may surprise you. Gandolfini is of course best known from his run on The Sopranos. What many don't realize is that he was a fine character actor prior to that iconic role. And many more know Kristen Stewart only as Bella from the Twilight franchise. In fact, she was a scene stealer prior to that in Panic Room and again in Into the Wild. Melissa Leo has experienced a career boon since her Oscar nomination for Frozen River. This year, she can also be seen in Conviction and The Fighter.

Hixon's script is unusual because it has the feel of how these people would actually interact. Gandolfini owns a plumbing supply business and leading, as they say, a life of quiet desperation. His wife (Leo) has been a virtual recluse since their teenage daughter died. Their marriage basically died that night as well, though they keep going through the motions that 30 years together brings. While attending a convention in New Orleans, Gandolfini stumbles into a strip joint and falls right into the life of Stewart.

The obvious thought is that he sees this as his opportunity to rescue her from this awful life and be the father he never got to be his own daughter. But there is more. He really comes across as a guy just searching for meaning in life ... his own life. He doesn't pretend to have the answers, but is not content to sit around and wait to die. His bizarre actions motivate his wife to actually leave the house and join him in New Orleans. Her reaction to what she finds is, once again, very real and un-Hollywood.

No need for me to give away any details or plot points. Watching these three together is refreshing for this avid movie goer. The stereotypes are minimal. The dialogue is sparse, but authentic ... just like the setting. Searching for meaning can be a painful process and it's not always obvious when one has succeeded. The director of the film is avid music video director Jake Scott, who also happens to be the son of Ridley and nephew of Tony. Jake shows none of the over the top tendencies of his more famous relatives. In fact, the level of understatedness is a joy to behold.

Poor Kristen Stewart hasn't had an easy ride in the popular press. First she's constantly linked with - the pretty one-dimensional - Bella Swann from the Twilight franchise and then she gets her love-life in a tangle and everyone takes R-Patz' side.

Somewhere, amid the mess of her personal life, she got round to making 'Welcome to the Riley's,' with Sopranos star James Gandolfini. Sadly, not enough people seemed to notice. It was an 'indie' film that never really got much of a mainstream release, therefore she remained 'Bella' in the press' eyes all the way through this.

However, if you can give her a chance, you may get more than an hour and a half of her holding her mouth open and refusing to smile. James Gandolfini gives a - naturally - great performance as a man who had lost his teenage daughter in a car accident. On a work trip he gives his colleagues the slip and takes refuge in a strip club where he meets Kristen Stewart, who he beings a - plutonic - relationship with, treating her like a surrogate daughter.

That's about it as far as the plot goes. At first (the beginning twenty minutes) I was pretty disinterested and was wondering what I got into. However, I was very pleased with how it transpired. It's actually quite a tender story of emotionally damaged people coming together.

It's certainly not a laugh a minute and is the sort of film that you have to be in quite a deep, reflective, thoughtful mood to really appreciate (or just want to see Kristen Stewart not surrounded by computer generated monsters).

Nice film. Give it a try.