Chronic

Chronic is a film about dying that doesn’t know when it should give up the ghost itself. Franco directs his portrait of a man who lives the lives of others with the same methodical approach that Roth’s nurse takes in caring for his dying patients. The big picture and partial details are presented, but only rarely are there any actual details. The film is made up of long, mostly static shots in which time has stopped. Its flow (and any other movement) has been replaced with coming to terms with the inevitability of death. Our deeper sympathy with the unusually kind-hearted and patient protagonist is hindered by the uncommunicative narrative, which conveys mere fragments of his past and present life. While he is an invaluable pillar of support for the people he cares for, he is far from being well-balanced in his private life. He tries to overcome his own existence through physical activity (running) and by accepting full responsibility for others, who give him the strength to live despite the tragedy he has experienced (which is somewhat paradoxical due to the fact that they are not strong enough to satisfy even their own basic needs). The distance from the indecipherable protagonist to which Franco leads us is partially justified in the conclusion, which offers a highly contradictory yet generally understandable solution to David’s problem consisting in fear of taking responsibility for his own life. Not only the final seconds, but the entire final third of the film, which is entirely more conventional and less focused that what came before, make Chronic an uneven affair. Tim Roth, however, is great from start to finish. 75% (09/09/2016)

The Mexican school is not hidden in the film - a distant, rigid, taciturn and traumatizing probe into a world that we do not want to look into for even a single second. A look at the misery of death and the protagonist’s futile attempt to understand the loss and accept the pain. Doubts are raised by the way Franco completed his film - is it a gesture by a director who wants to shock at all costs, or just a misunderstood gesture of the main character, who no longer sees the way forward? Despite the slight discomfort after the screening, it is a remarkably elaborate film in which Tim Roth literally incarnated physically into a male nurse for whom dying is an obsession. [Cannes 2015] (05/24/2015)

Tim Roth is good, the film is very depressing, and these are its main elements that draw you in. Dying is not easy, nor is it easy to deal with it on a daily basis and actually help people to make dying better. The film isn't that plot driven, it's slow, but you get a sense of where it's going. It's not an easy watch. (04/10/2017)

I’ve experienced some things and I can say that life really is rough just like this film presents, aided by the extremely convincing Tim Roth. This soul-rending spectacle is definitely not suitable for kids still playing in the playground. (80%) (02/22/2022)