Citadel (2012)

HERE’S A QUESTION for all the dads out there: Could you protect your child from evil if you were afraid of everything?

That’s the dilemma posed by the Irish horror import Citadel, where we meet Tommy (Aneurin Barnard), a young father afflicted with chronic agoraphobia after his pregnant wife is brutally attacked by a gang of hooded youths (children, to be exact). When the same gang starts terrorizing Tommy again, intent on kidnapping his baby daughter, he seeks help from a doubting yet sympathetic nurse (Wunmi Mosaku) and a vigilante priest (James Cosmo) to overcome his fear and destroy the gang for good.

Drawing from his own experience with agoraphobia following a violent mugging, Citadel’s first-time feature writer/director Ciaran Foy paints Tommy’s world as a bleak, grimy landscape of blues and greys (much like how Tommy views his life and his future). Foy does an effective job at balancing scares with cares, putting Tommy in the hands of Mosaku’s nurse just long enough to provide the viewer with a false sense of relief before throwing Tommy back into danger at the hands of the gang. (Also great: Foy’s use of Tommy’s old apartment number (111) and the recurring theme of threes.)

Looking and acting like Elijah Wood’s strung-out big brother, Barnard does a great job capturing the struggle of a new parent stricken with a crippling fear and topped with a coating of paranoia. Cosmo’s embattled priest, while quite the screen presence, is a somewhat uneven mishmash of profane wisdom, jarring frankness, and tough love. Also, his exposition explaining the origin of the feral children is muddled and dodges the obvious question: If this gang of children has been around for decades, wouldn’t there now be a few adults in the group?

Winner of the Midnighters Audience Award at the 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, Citadel is nearly everything a horror film should be – “nearly” because of the third act, a showdown in the abandoned apartment tower where Tommy and his wife lived when she was attacked. This finale plays like a haunted-house action sequence and betrays the creepy, atmospheric tone Foy set in the first hour. The film also ends somewhat abruptly: one side wins, and almost immediately the credits roll.

As good as Citadel is, a word of warning to anyone who’s an expectant father, a single dad, or a parent of an infant: Before you know it, you’ll soon be wondering if you would have what it takes if faced with the same terrors as Tommy.

Rating:

Is it suitable for your kids?

Absolutely not. In the opening scene, Tommy’s wife is viciously attacked by the gang; Tommy’s emotional breakdowns are harrowing to watch (though he’s oddly emotionless when taking his wife off life support); the hooded children are truly scary: they attack and kill several people, complete with graphic noises and bloodshed, either in shadows or off screen; Tommy’s baby daughter is put in peril in several scenes; one of the hooded children’s throats is slit, complete with spraying blood; there are many profanities.

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

With a pregnant mother beaten to death in the opening scene, a gang of mutated killer children, and the ongoing threat of a baby girl being stolen by the gang, I can’t see too many mothers who would be willing to sit through Citadel.

"Candy-Gram."

Citadel
* Director: Ciaran Foy
* Screenwriter: Ciaran Foy
* Stars: Aneurin Barnard, Wunmi Mosaku, James Cosmo, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels
* MPAA Rating: R


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The Other F Word (2011)

BEFORE BECOMING A FATHER, you have your own set of priorities, ideologies, and views of the world. But when children enter your life, you have to make a seismic shift in how you live. And let’s be honest: It’s hard for the average man to stop being so selfish and start giving all his focus, love, and attention to the new child in his life.

But what if you weren’t the average man before fatherhood? What if you were a hardcore punk rocker with no responsibilities, complete disrespect of authority, and lived life day to day on your terms? How hard is it to go from barely caring about your own well-being to being unconditionally protective of a life you created?

Plot:
Featuring interviews with dozens of punk rock’s leading men, including Jim Lindberg (Pennywise), Mark Hoppus (Blink 182), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Tony Adolescent (The Adolescents), and Lars Frederiksen (Rancid), The Other F Word documents what happens when society’s ultimate anti-authoritarians become its ultimate authorities: dads.


Critique:

The dads in director Andrea Blaugrund Nevins’ The Other F Word largely fall into one group – the dad who successfully balances parenthood and punk – yet there are a couple of examples at far ends of the spectrum: Ron “Chavo” Reyes, former lead singer of Black Flag (one the most violent and influential U.S. punk bands), is now the most domesticated, while Fat Mike of NOFX is the most resistant in terms of giving up the punk lifestyle (now in his forties, he still gets completely sloshed before every show).

It’s intriguing to see how becoming a dad makes these punkers think deeply about their own fathers, the majority of whom were pretty poor role models. The examples of bad childhoods described by Nevins’ subjects in strung-together segments are depressing – at times heartbreaking – but they also serve as testaments to how hard, and how successfully, these guys have worked to be better fathers than their own.

Not only do the traumas of their childhoods still affect these punk dads (Everclear’s Art Alexakis is amazingly frank about his many abuses), but tragedies involving their own children haunt them as well (the toughest to watch: Tony Adolescent describing holding his stillborn daughter and U.S. Bombs’ Duane Peters discussing his son’s death in a violent car crash).

While the dads in The Other F Word may have varying methods of parenthood, discipline, and responsibility, not one of their children is neglected – in fact, they appear to be loved very much. We also see never see any of the dads openly struggling to be a responsible grown-up or the father they never had. In other words, there’s no sustainable tension or conflict surrounding the subjects or the subject matter – and that’s the film’s one notable flaw. Obviously, no one wants to see a child mistreated, abused, or abandoned; but in a warped way, it’s almost a detriment to the film that none of Nevins’ subjects is a failure as a father.

Can the sins of the father be avoided by the sons? Judging from the subjects of The Other F Word, the answer is yes. And to a certain extent, it hurts the film – ultimately making it interesting to watch, but not compelling.

Rating:

Is it suitable for your kids?

Despite being about fatherhood and parenting, The Other F Word features many trademarks of the punk lifestyle: loads of profanities (sometimes in front of the young children), inappropriate sayings on clothing and gear, and alcohol consumption (with a few of the punk dads appearing drunk onstage).

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

Possibly/probably. If she has an interest in (or history with) the punk lifestyle, she may want to see how these guys are making the adjustment from punk to papa.

Hey! You shouldn’t start a sentence with a preposition…
uh, but in your case, I’ll make an exception.

The Other F Word
* Director: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
* Screenwriter: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins
* Stars: Jim Lindberg, Mark Hoppus, Flea, Tim McIlrath, Tony Adolescent, Lars Frederiksen, Tony Hawk
* MPAA Rating: N/A

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The Kids Grow Up (2011)

DASH AND JACK-JACK are 8 and 5 respectively, so I have a few years before I have to worry about when they are grown up and old enough to leave home.

Still, I wasn’t sure how I’d react to filmmaker Doug Block’s documentary, The Kids Grow Up. Would I be unable to relate to Block’s story of his daughter (and only child) Lucy leaving for college because my boys are much younger than her, or would I end up fretting a decade in advance about that day when my first-born son plans to move on?

Plot:
As his only child Lucy prepares to leave home for college, Manhattan-based documentary filmmaker Doug Block (51 Birch Street) struggles with letting go. Drawing on three generations of evocative family footage, The Kids Grow Up is an intimate first-person look at parenthood in an age when dads are increasingly involved in their children’s lives.

Critique:

While it’s true that not every frame of footage of Lucy can be a heart-wrenching, three-Kleenex event, a lot of The Kids Grow Up plays quieter than expected. The Brocks seem an inherently mellow family, and conversations about exciting or life-changing events are more somber than stimulating – making the film feel longer than its 92 minutes.

The Kids Grow Up is at its strongest when Block directly juxtaposes footage of Lucy today with her as a child or toddler, such as milestones in Lucy’s life (jumping from her first ear piercing as a grade-schooler to her driving test in high school) or when Brock cuts from 18-year-old Lucy breaking down over the incessant taping to a child-age Lucy happily proclaiming that she loves when her daddy tapes her.

In addition to Brock’s feelings about Lucy leaving, Kids also sheds light on other aspects of his life – including his resentment over his emotionally distant father (also interviewed here) and his wife Marjorie’s opinions on what she feels is Block’s clownish or ambivalent approach to parenting. He also finds himself dealing with other events while filming Kids, such as the birth of his first grandson (from Lucy’s stepbrother Joel) and a serious recurrence of Marjorie’s ongoing battle with depression.

While he does have great footage of Lucy and other family members, Brock isn’t the strongest interviewer; he waffles and thinks out loud for the right words when talking to, or attempting to comfort, his subjects.

However, whether you have a teenager who’s about to leave home or you sometimes wonder what it’ll be like when your little kid does so, The Kids Grow Up will affect you…and make you hug them a little tighter afterwards.

Rating:

Is it suitable for your kids?

The Kids Grow Up features some light talk about sex, and in one scene Lucy explains through tears how she’s “pissed off” at her dad taping her so much; Lucy and her high school friends drink beer with their meals at a deck party.

Will your FilmMother want to watch it?

Not many mothers like to think about the day their children will leave home, so The Kids Grow Up may stir up emotions. But that’s the point of an effective movie, isn’t it?

Get outta the road, kid! That's dangerous!
Look what happened to your friend above you!

The Kids Grow Up
* Director: Doug Block
* Screenwriter: Doug Block
* Stars: Lucy Block, Doug Block, Marjorie Silver, Mike Block, Josh Silver, David Silver, Romain George
* MPAA Rating: NR


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