December 19, 2018 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
FILM REVIEW: Addict Unexpectedly Arrives Home
for Christmas in ‘Ben Is Back’
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
H
olly (Julia Roberts) and
Neal (Courtney B. Vance)
are raising a family in a
quaint country home in
upstate New York ostensibly far
removed from the sort of woes
which plague the inner city. It’s
Christmas Eve, and we meet
Holly in church where she’s pa-
tiently watching three of her
four kids practicing for the
Christmas pageant.
However, looks can be de-
ceiving, since missing from
the idyllic picture is her eldest
child, Ben (Lucas Hedges). For,
the troubled 19-year-old has
been living at a drug rehab cen-
ter where he’s managed to keep
clean for the past 77 days.
“
However, looks
can be deceiv-
ing, since miss-
ing from the
idyllic picture
is her eldest
child, Ben
But Ben has left the facility
without permission to be with
the folks over the holidays.
And the trouble starts when he
Lucas Hedges plays Julia Robert’s son in ‘Ben is Back’
breaks into the house when no-
body’s there upon his arrival.
Understandably, Holly and
Neal have different reactions to
Ben’s return. She naively wel-
comes her prodigal son with
open arms. Meanwhile, his Af-
rican American stepdad is very
skeptical about allowing him to
stay, pointing out that if he were
Black, he’d probably be in pris-
on rather than a halfway house.
Neal’s not only concerned
about the prospect of Ben using
again, but about the welfare of
Lacey (Mia Fowler) and Liam (Ja-
kari Fraser), his impressionable,
young offspring with Holly. By
contrast, teenage stepdaughter
Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is well
aware of Ben’s tendency to re-
lapse, and is dead set against an
impromptu reunion.
Unfortunately,
headstrong
Holly gets the final say. Against
her better judgment and Ben’s
own warning that he can’t be
trusted, she agrees to a one-day
visit. What ensues is a harrow-
ing 24-hour nightmare the gull-
ible mom will come to regret.
Thus unfolds “Ben Is Back,” a
timely cautionary tale written
and directed by Peter Hedges
(“Pieces of April”). It stars
his son Lucas in the title role
opposite Julia Roberts who
proves quite convincing as a
mom in denial who becomes
increasingly frazzled over
the course of the misadven-
ture.
As chilling a depiction of
the suburban opioid epidem-
ic as you are apt to find on-
screen.
Very Good HHH
Rated R for drug use and
pervasive profanity
Running time: 103 min.
Beale
cont’d from pg 6
cop (Ed Skrein) capable
of cavalierly framing a
Black man for a crime he
didn’t commit.
Hope for justice rests
with getting the alleged
rape victim (Emily Rios)
who fingered Fonny at
the direction of Officer
Bell to tell the truth. But
she’s moved to Puerto
Rico, making the pros-
pect of her recanting in
court unlikely, unless
Sharon is willing to go to
extraordinary lengths in
quest of exoneration.
All of the above un-
folds in fascinating fash-
ion against a variety
of visually-captivating
backdrops. Kudos to
Barry Jenkins for craft-
ing another compelling
inner-city saga, and es-
pecially for coaxing a
career performance out
of Regina King, a shoo-in
for an Oscar nomination.
Excellent HHHH
Rated R for profanity
and sexuality
Running time: 117 min.
Production Studio: Plan
B Entertainment / Anna-
purna Pictures / PASTEL
Studio: Annapurna
Pictures
To see a trailer for If
Beale Street Could Talk,
visit: TheSkanner.com.
TICKETS
sponsored by:
33R D A N N UA L
.
R
J
,
G
N
I
K
R
E
H
MARTIN LUT
T
S
A
F
K
e
A
E
v
R
B
r
e
s
re our RED LION JANZTEN BEACH
y ts
AM
0
:3
0
-1
0
:3
8
a
9
se JAN. 21, 201
TICKETS
TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT TheSkanner.com