By June L.
Mar 28, 2008, 11:11 GMT
We all grieve for lost love in different ways. Some mourn in quiet desperate silence, while others show their distress with angry words and reactionary behavior. The saddest of all are those who lose themselves in their grief and cannot reconcile emotions or adapt to the changes.
Alpha Male is the story of how various people have dealt with the loss of Jim Ferris (Danny Houston) their, father, or husband, or brother-in-law or friend. In a combination of flash backs and a present day nine years later, the impact of Jim’s death is revealed, and we see how the relationships of those close to him have become shattered.
As the film opens, Jack Ferris (Mark Wells) has returned home at his mother’s (Jennifer Ehle) request to attend a 21st birthday celebration in his honor. He is not happy to be there, and his mother is overcome with emotion that he has made the effort to make an appearance.
Through flashbacks we see that Jack and his mother, along with his sister Elysse (Amelia Warner) were once part of a happy, very normal (meaning they did have troubles and problems) family. The audience is shown slices of everyday life, exploring the good and the not so good times, but highlighting the loving cohesiveness of the family. When Jim tells his son Jack that he is very ill and that Jack will have to take over as the man of the house, Jack’s eyes reveal that this is going to be too much of a burden.
Jack takes the edict too seriously, and in turn hands down strict rules of behavior to his little sister, and tries to control the emotional life of his mother. None of this allows any of them to grieve in a way that will lead to healing. In the flashbacks it is apparent that people were doing what they thought was the best thing, but it turned out to be confusing to the emotions of all, especially the children Jack and Elysse.
The family relationships have become fractured as a result and the audience waits to see if Jack’s 21st Birthday party will be a catastrophe of high magnitude, or the best attempt at healing made by these sad people.
There are moments in Alpha Male that are brilliant in concept and performance. In fact each scene is a gem of emotion and imagery, and the performances of all the characters are strong and convincing. The problem is that something just doesn’t click to make the film completely satisfactory. There may be confusion as to the point of view….whose story are we really seeing?
And are what we seeing a true representation of the events? There is little help unraveling the mysteries of characters or plots, and perhaps that is the vision of the film. Life can not be untangled easily, and changes brought on by loss are sometimes too harsh for those least qualified to manage.
Alpha Male is presented on single disc in widescreen format with a running time of 110 minutes. There are no special features other than the trailer included and subtitles available. I would love to see a making of featurette, or hear a commentary with the director and actors.
This would help sort the images which are breathtaking on so many levels and give audiences a better understanding of the film’s intent. A special nod of appreciation goes to Arthur Duncan and Katie Knight who played the young Jack and Elysse for a job particularly well done.
Alpha Male is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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