Marta (Robin Bartlett), a melancholy woman doing her best to
remain dignified while battling
cancer.
The film suggests David lives
vicariously through his patients,
almost to a creepy degree.
While buying books on architecture, he lets the cashier believe
that he himself is an architect.
In a bar, he tells a newly wed
couple that he once had a wife
named Sarah, who passed away.
It’s only when he befriends
Marta, who is something of a
blank canvas, that he begins to
explore his own past life, reconnecting with the daughter he
hadn’t seen since the breakup of
his marriage, which was prompted by a key incident I won’t divulge here.
Roth gives a career best performance in a film that’s enamored
of him. Franco shoots in long
static takes, practically one per
scene, which paradoxically creates an intimacy between the
viewers and David and his patients while keeping us at arm’s
length. The more we learn of David’s character, the more our empathy grows, rendering the film’s
somewhat ambiguous final shot/
scene a shocking and powerful
punch to the gut.
w
Chronic
4 stars out of 5
Directed by: Michel Franco
Starring: Tim Roth, Robin Bartlett,
Rachel Pickup, Bitsie Tulloch,
Maribeth Monroe, Michael Cristofer
NJ STAGE 2016 - ISSUE 9
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