the movie is an exercise in tedious story-telling, and a boring story at that. every second shot seems to be a close-up of mr. williams, with his bleached and thinned hair and the awkward glasses every psychopath needs. the fact that mr. williams character is a lonely and depressed man is made abundantly clear by a series of boring "staged" shots of him sitting alone in an empty room, whether its the cafeteria or his own home.
the picure-book perfect family could have been interesting, but the director and/or screenwriter obviously couldnt decide at which point to show the "real" family situation behind the happy facade. first we see the parents and their son cuddling on the sofa while looking at their pictures of the sons birthday party. the next scene is a tender good-night scene between mother and son where she states that "not everybody is as lucky as we are." however, the very next time we see the family, the parents are having a shouting match over money and personal issues, while the son watches and runs off crying. that scene seems so misplaced and badly directed that from that point onwards the whole family structure is so uninteresting that one couldnt care less what happens to them.
mr. williams actions in the hotel room towards the end of the movie seem furthermore totally unrelated to the trauma he obviously suffered as a child. his idea of punishment projected to an adult couple just doesnt make sense regarding his own past. it is just as incompetent as the whole story. and then there are the photos themselves. i just kept asking myself, if the family consists of three people, who then is always taking those pictures of the three? the same goes for the holiday pictures of the husband. did they hire a personal photographer to come along with them on the holiday so they could get those perfect couple shots on the beach? and the kid of course always considered the importance of complementary colors when shooting his pics: so that a bright blue teddy bear sits next to an orange balloon and that a pair of red rubber boots are seen standing on a very green lawn! all those pictures are so "art-directed" and staged that they in themselves rob the movie of all credibilty.
the picure-book perfect family could have been interesting, but the director and/or screenwriter obviously couldnt decide at which point to show the "real" family situation behind the happy facade. first we see the parents and their son cuddling on the sofa while looking at their pictures of the sons birthday party. the next scene is a tender good-night scene between mother and son where she states that "not everybody is as lucky as we are." however, the very next time we see the family, the parents are having a shouting match over money and personal issues, while the son watches and runs off crying. that scene seems so misplaced and badly directed that from that point onwards the whole family structure is so uninteresting that one couldnt care less what happens to them.
mr. williams actions in the hotel room towards the end of the movie seem furthermore totally unrelated to the trauma he obviously suffered as a child. his idea of punishment projected to an adult couple just doesnt make sense regarding his own past. it is just as incompetent as the whole story. and then there are the photos themselves. i just kept asking myself, if the family consists of three people, who then is always taking those pictures of the three? the same goes for the holiday pictures of the husband. did they hire a personal photographer to come along with them on the holiday so they could get those perfect couple shots on the beach? and the kid of course always considered the importance of complementary colors when shooting his pics: so that a bright blue teddy bear sits next to an orange balloon and that a pair of red rubber boots are seen standing on a very green lawn! all those pictures are so "art-directed" and staged that they in themselves rob the movie of all credibilty.