Captain Fantastic

Set against the beautiful Pacific Northwest backdrop, Captain Fantastic is easily one of the most nuanced films to come to mainstream cinema in the last few years. It's main plot addresses the struggle when everyone has the best intentions but not the same values. Additionally, the film makes honest and straightforward comments on controversial issues in today's society that are often taboo in the media such as mental illness, the hypocrisy of children's exposure to violence and sex, religion, and the flaws in the American education system. This sounds heavy and uncomfortable but these issues are paralleled in such a way that parts of the film had us in tears; from laughing so hard. Director Matt Ross says the project started as an exaggerated exploration of the difficult choices that must be made in regards to raising children in today's society. I think the film goes a step further and awakens an internal dialogue in each of it's viewers about the way that we live our own lives based on societal influences. Furthermore, the performances given by the perfectly arranged cast enhance your investment in the story in a way that will cause you to question what right and wrong really are when you're only trying to do your best and do what you think is best for those that you love.

Greetings again from the darkness. There seems to be no end to the theories on how to be an effective parent and raise kids who are productive, well-adjusted and successful. Writer/director Matt Ross offers up a creative, entertaining and thought-provoking story of one family's unconventional approach in a world that seems to expect and accept only the conventional.

We are first introduced to Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his six kids as they are stalking a deer while deep in the Pacific Northwest forest … only this isn't your buddy's weekend deer hunting trip. Each family member is covered head-to-toe in mud and other means of camouflage, and the oldest son Bodevan (George MacKay) takes the lead with his knife in what is presented as a rite of passage into manhood.

The family carries out a daily ritual that includes extreme physical conditioning, lessons on survival and living off the land, and advanced education that includes reading such diverse material as Dostoevsky and Lolita. Each evening is capped off with an impromptu musical jam. It's evident that self-sufficiency, intelligence and family loyalty are crucial to Ben's approach … an approach that is challenged when circumstances require the family board their Partridge Family bus (named Steve) and take a cross-country road trip into a civilization that doesn't know what to make of them (and vice-versa).

The film is jam-packed with social commentary on education, parenting, societal norms, societal influences, and even grief. Who gets to decide what is best for a family or what's the best method for education? Sometimes the dysfunctional family isn't so easy to identify. Director Ross proves this in a gem of a dinner table scene as Ben and the kids visit Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn and their two sons in suburbia.

In addition to the terrific performance by up-and-comer George MacKay, the other actors playing the kids are all very strong and believable: Samantha Isler as Kieyler, Annalise Basso as Vespyr, Nicholas Hamilton as Rellian, Shree Crooks as Zaja, and Charlie Shotwell as Nai. Screen vets Frank Langella and Ann Dowd bring presence to the role of their grandparents and provide the greatest contrast to the off-the-grid existence of the kids.

Viggo Mortensen truly shines here and gives a performance full of grace and depth as he displays many emotions (some of which aren't so pleasant). He even goes full-Viggo for one of the film's many humorous moments … though the comedy is balanced by plenty of full scale drama. His best work comes in the scenes when he begins to question that there may be some flaws in his plan … the moments of self-realization are stunning.

Many will note some similarities between this film and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), though this one carries quite a bit more heft. It's beautifully photographed by cinematographer Stephane Fontaine (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) and captures the danger and solitude of the forest, while also capturing the more personal family dynamics. It's a film that should generate plenty of discussion, and one of the questions is … will Noam Chomsky Day ever match Festivus in popularity?

Aesthetically on high-level, questioning the most important points of human life and importance of verbal, mental, physical, social, emotional development and the inability of developing them all on the same level. There are so many factors that influence one's development. And there is space for many mistakes.

High quality acting. Viggo Mortensen gives one of his best performances, a devoted father that wants only the best for his kids, an authority, a leader, a teacher, loving, loyal husband, a grieving human with tough, determined, honest attitude he transmits to his children. Kids, from the youngest to the oldest, act with such naturalness that you simply dive in this masterfully-made journey.

Film doesn't show how one should live and not live because both sides are flawed. Internal and external conflicts make you question the reality of the present, giving you space to find your own balance of how one should live.

I personally started thinking of how there is a massive space for improvement in every field of our lives. An example is school. And how devastating it is that one could neglect the knowledge at that extant. Kids need to be inspired and motivated to learn. And more important is that they have to build inner-motivation that will make them interested and ambitious as they improve the world around them. And of course kids can't be accused for not wanting to learn if the teachers don't show them how and why to love their subject. And of course parents to support them.

This (above) is just one point of where this movie has taken my entranced mind.

This is a movie for every generation. It needs to be noticed, it deserves to be talked about, and discussed. Because that is the point of Captain Fantastic.

This movie challenges lots of things that we wrongfully take for granted in today's society. Mortensen is brilliant for yet another time and all the cast is simply breathtaking.

The concept of the movie and the backstory were brilliant. A touching movie, heartwarming and brilliant all along. A father that although strict and sometimes military like, who's also artistic and deeply sentimental. An amazing depiction from Vigo Mortensen. Amazing.

A movie that in a simple but yet elegant way depicts all the things that have altered our society and brings forth lots of the things that really matter. It makes us think about the ways we were raised and rethink the ways in which we want our children to be raised.

This is a movie well worth your time. One of the best movies I have watched in 2016, by far!

Captain Fantastic (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Viggo Mortensen plays Ben, a father of six who is raising his children in a forest somewhere in the Northwest. Sectioned off from the real world, Ben teaches his children the education he feels they need and he also puts them through a physical training that has them extremely fit. After the suicide of his wife and their mother, the seven hop on their bus and head towards the funeral.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is certainly one of the better movies of 2016 and you could argue that it presents an extremely interesting and highly entertaining look at various social issues going on. Most people would look at this family and call them complete weirdos because of the way they live. Living in the woods. Hunting for your own food. No internet. No television. Basically they live like people used to before the world went a little mad. Director-writer Matt Ross really paints quite an entertaining picture of this family living off the grid yet it seems they have the most important things down pat.

I was really surprised at this film because it works on so many levels. I guess the simplest thing to say is that this film and the family in it perfectly capture life as there are many highs and lows here as well as many laughs, many fights, many great times and certainly many bad. At times the film works as a perfect comedy and at other times it's the perfect family drama. I was really impressed at how the director managed to make all of these emotions work so well off one another and it really did make for a complete picture.

All six of the actors playing the kids do a remarkable job and we get other great supporting performances including the ones by Steve Zahn and Frank Langella. Langella deserves a lot of credit because he really plays quite the jerk here yet he does so in such a fashion to where you can see and feel where he is coming from and understand the character. With that said, there's no question that it's Mortensen who is the star of the picture and he easily steals it. This is such a deep and complex character that you really did need someone like Mortensen to make it work. This is especially true since the actor can pull off the hippie side of this character so well but he also nails the dramatic side as well as the side of being a father and realizing that you might have messed up along the way.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is certainly an original picture, which isn't something that happens too often these days. We've seen movies about strange families before but this one really hits all the right notes.