Captain Fantastic

I ignored this one for a long time, but after watching it I'm almost tempted to go up to 5 stars. I don't think anyone will forget this family that has lived in the woods for 10 years. The parenting style was very unconventional and I think it could have easily been functional. Viggo Mortensen was absolutely amazing and his intellectual dialogues took my breath away at times, every dialogue is a powerful and thought-provoking thing. The kids were Oscar-worthy and the knowledge that 8 year old girl has of politics and law made my chin drop. Very good in places and perversely funny. 85%. (03/10/2017)

In the beginning, it seemed like a movie about a cult, which made me so annoyed that I almost quit watching. Then it occurred to me that the film might be about the Kelly Family and I hung in there out of curiosity. Surprisingly, after a while, the whole family went to a funeral on a bus accompanied by the sound of Scotland the Brave, so I figured it probably wasn't about the American-Irish band. I was amazed how intrigued and entertained I was by a story about a clash of two life philosophies. I just didn’t take away any moral lessons. But that's just me, I’m a cynic. A side effect of the film is that I’ll be suspiciously looking around when walking down the street to see if there isn’t a radical socialist behind me who’s out to get me. (11/16/2016)

Agitprop? Nope. Perhaps at first glance, it’s a clueless-looking road movie in the end, but without unnecessary pathos it both praises and denounces the strength of family togetherness, which can reconcile the pitfalls of socialism and the exploitation of capitalism. This will still mature intellectually. 4 ½. (10/10/2016)

51st KVIFF - completely off the mark. In a rational person, the “funny” sequences will probably arouse concern and fear. That psychopath commanding a radical, potentially terrorist cell in the forest should end up behind bars, instead of back in the family circle in the style of “we all love each other”. When it looks like the voice of reason will prevail (Frank Langella’s), it ends up being flushed down the toilet. I’m allergic to this alternative stuff, so I was hostile against this film from the beginning. The rating might be too harsh, but it comes from the heart. If you feel otherwise, you’ll be satisfied. (07/08/2016)

Thematically similar to Wild and Into The Wild, i.e. an individual with different views, attitudes and philosophy of life, going against the established practices and standards of modern society. It's a bit of an agitprop for organic life, a bit of a tribute to the hippies and a bit of a backwoods romp. Most of all, though, it's a surprisingly functional family drama about unconventional family practices and a different approach to life that's very raw in some scenes while brilliantly contrasting the typically capitalist mannerisms of the contemporary bourgeoisie, a superbly typecast American middle class, and a family of pragmatic, penniless scrappers living in the woods who are seemingly depraved in every way, but not really. The greatest virtue is that the director manages to put all these typologically selected life practices into one plane and extracts the positives and negatives from both in equal measure. So, in the end, the viewer is served with a plethora of consistent, very interesting opinions and scenes that are entertaining in their inner charge, thought-provoking message, and are healthily spiced with great acting performances. Thankfully it clearly doesn't side with nature, whereas the older brothers have it in their name and it's clear what it looks like afterwards. Mortensen and co are nuts, but they have brains, they know why they're doing it and you root for them. (12/15/2016)