Bringing Up Bobby (2011)

Bringing Up Bobby (2011)

This time, Famke Janssen has directed a film… and doesn’t appear in it.
And let’s face it: it’s quite well made!

Famke reunites Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman, among others, in her film.

Those who don’t like Milla and avoid her films don’t really know what they’re missing. A very pleasant surprise, in any case. This film is really good and Jovovich is, as usual, excellent and breathtaking.

The film is criminally unknown and hasn’t had the success it deserves.
Those who didn’t like it were probably thinking: ‘Another pointless film about parent-child relationships’ or ‘A film whose only relatable element is the absolute contempt Olive’s boyfriend Walt (Rory Cochrane) has for the titular child (Spencer List)’ or ‘Unfortunately, this film, by turns melodramatic and comic, fails to impress, despite Milla Jovovich’s performance…’.
Yes, because there’s no denying her talent as an actress.

In this feature film, she plays an immature Ukrainian woman who has no understanding of the rules of life in the United States. She makes a living out of petty theft and scams, and doesn’t deny her only son Bobby, who is very intelligent but ill-behaved.

Featuring a gallery of zany characters, Bringing Up Bobby is a wacky, convincing and hilarious feature that the whole family will be sure to watch again and again.

The film may be considered a comedy, but it’s clearly a comedy-drama that left me quite touched at the end. An ending during which it’s a pleasure to see this rich American couple, given that it’s Bill Pullman and Marcia Cross, the Bree Van de Kampe of ‘Desperate Housewives’). Yes, if you’re watching this film for these two, you should know that we hardly see them at all!

The drama works much better than the comedy, even if it does centre on an unclear and implausible situation at times.

I’m completely flabbergasted by a review I found: “What’s the connection between the title and the film? Nothing at all… we wait in vain for 90 minutes for the crime announced in the title…
And yet, the film isn’t so bad…”.
I don’t think this person really understood the title!

Excellent performances, well written and directed. Visually appealing and surprisingly thoughtful. I think female-centric films are always going to have a harder time. But they’ll also hit home more… if they’re not made in a rash fashion, of course!

Sensitively acted, carefully written and genuinely compassionate, Bringing Up Bobby is a captivating little independent film, unjustly overlooked and made in an austere context.