Lullaby

Andrew Levitas makes his screen writing and directing debut in this little film LULLABY and for a first time effort, despite all the rough unfinished edges of the canvas, he gives notice of a man with a fairly keen perception of the complex interrelationships of dysfunctional families.

Jonathan Lowenstein (Garrett Hedlund) lives in Los Angeles attempting to become a singer of note and has been estranged from his wealthy New York family for years, always feeling as though he was unable to live up to his father's expectations. One day, he suddenly receives word that his terminally ill father Robert Lowenstein (Richard Jenkins) wishes to be taken off life support after a 12 year struggle with lung cancer and has 36 hours to live. When he agrees to visit his father, he unintentionally sets up a family conflict with no easy resolution. His mother (Annie Archer) has been caretaker of Robert and is happy to have the family reunited: Karen (Jessica Brown Findlay), the younger sister in law school, struggles with resentment for Jonathan, Jonathan detests the fact that he must observe the dying wishes of Robert (including setting up Seder when Jonathan has a history of disregarding his Jewish heritage), cope with Karen's acerbic flairs, deal with a stranger Meredith (Jessica Barden) who is 17 years old and dying of bone cancer who shares her needs with Jonathan and he with her, and re-encountering his lost love Emily (Amy Adams). Some of the best moments are provided by Jennifer Hudson as the potty mouth bitchy nurse, Terence Howard as the attending physician who is to aids Robert's 'assisted suicide', and Daniel Sunjata as a policeman who joins in the Seder. Though there are funny moments the story hangs on the subject of death and end of life situations, sharing the manner in which we evaluate our lives and our purposes in this life at that transformative moment of death of a loved one.

Though falling frequently into the overplayed anger/grief/sobbing triad the actors are very fine and they make the film worth watching. Grady Harp, July 14

The story centers around a son's and daughter's responses to a father's desire to end all palliative treatment, designed to keep him alive, in spite of his having an incurable cancer. Unfortunately, I didn't really know where this movie was going with the story. I saw a family of three arguing mostly, and going through emotional breakdowns without an ounce of genuineness.

The son is a musician who had a falling out with the family. Nothing else is mentioned about him. He grunts and yells, and goes through some emotional wrangling as he tries to accept his father wishes. The daughter's response is even more incomprehensible. Since her father took her and his son off his will, she started getting upset. Then she goes on about a person's right to die versus a responsibility to help family by staying alive. A little speech is inserted attesting to this. The mother mostly cries but has a few emotional breakdowns. That, in essence, was the movie, except that it was punctuated by a few "heartwarming moments" with a former girlfriend and young cancer patient, moments that didn't help with the unevenness of the script.

I saw no chemistry among the actors. The script was messy and the emotional reactions constantly displayed throughout the film became distracting. All four actors and their abilities were wasted on a poor script.

Review: What a touching movie! This deep emotional drama really did touch me and the great performances from the actors, especially Richard Jenkins and the little kids, made this film a joy to watch. Richard Jenkins plays Robert, whose is a successful business man, suffering with terminal cancer. His son, Jonathan (Garrett Hedlund) rushes to be by his bedside but when he arrives at the hospital, his father tells him that he has requested for the machines to be switched off in 48 hours, which have been keeping him alive. Jonathan finds it hard to deal with his decision to end his life and he finds comfort from a young female patient, whilst having a cigarette by the fire escape. He then returns to his father and mother, Rachel (Anne Archer), who also is finding it hard to deal with his decision and when there daughter Karen (Jessica Brown Findlay) arrives, Robert tells them that he has left most of his money to various charities that need it, which doesn't go down to well with Karen and Jonathan. Karen then tells the family that she has taken out an injunction to stop her father from taking his own life and her troubled relationship with her brother, causes them to argue in front of there parents. After a while, the family come together and have a meal in the chapel, we're there mother breaks down because she doesn't know how she's going to live without any money. Jonathan then meets up with his old girlfriend, Emily (Amy Adams), who manages to calm him down and explains to him why there relationship broke down. He also manages to have a decent conversation with his sister and there father tells Karen that he would consider not going ahead with the suicide if she can come out with a good enough reason for him to stay alive. While she is putting together her case, Jonathan helps out the same patient that he had a cigarette with, by taking her to a prom, which the other patients put together in the hospital. He then spends the night with his father and Karen brings her case forward in the morning. Although her case is a good one, Robert still wants to go ahead with the suicide and now that the family have come together as one, they agree to his conditions. Dr. Crier (Terence Howard), turns off the machines with Roberts family by his side and they show there love for there father/husband while he slowly passes away. Emotional! I did shed a tear near the end but watching him in pain was just as bad. The spoilt kids bickering did get on my nerves because they were constantly being really selfish, without thinking about there poor mum who, practically lived in the hospital. Nurse Carrie (Jennifer Hudson), brought some needed wit to the movie and Richard Jenkins stayed upbeat to the end. You do need to be in the right frame of mind to watch the film because it is quite depressing but it's an illness that is affecting many people's life's in day to day life. Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie and I definitely recommend it to people who are into there emotional dramas. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: Garrett Hedlund, 31, first hit the big screen in 2004 in Troy, which isn't a bad way to start your career in cinema and he's also starred in Friday Night Lights, Four Brothers, Eragon, Death Sentence, Tron: Legacy, Country Strong, On The Road, Inside Llewyn Davis and Unbroken. He also plays Hook in the upcoming Pan and he stars alongside Oscar Isaac and Mark Wahlberg  in Mojave so his career has been pretty impressive so far. He did act like a spoilt brat in this movie but once he sorted himself out, he actually didn't turn out to be a bad guy. This is the first movie written and directed by Andrew Levitas, 38, who didn't do a bad job with this delicate subject. He got the most out of the impressive cast and for his first project, he really did show the different sides of how a family dealing with cancer. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their dramatic movies starring Amy Adams, Richard Jenkins, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Garrett Hedlund, Anne Archer and Jessica Brown Findlay. 6/10

This film tells the story of a dysfunctional family, who is reunited by the terminally ill father's decision to pull himself off life support.

"Lullaby" is named quite the opposite of what it really is. It is a dark film with a lot of arguments and dysfunctional interactions. It is not easy to watch. The pacing is very slow, and I think the film can be a lot shorter, especially by cutting out the music scenes that are unnecessarily long. Jennifer Hudson is memorable as a nurse with attitude, I am quite unsure if nurses in the States really act like that! The ending speech by the daughter is very touching, but it is still not enough to save "Lullaby" as a tedious film.

(2014) Lullaby DRAMA

Co-produced, written and directed by Andrew Levitas that has inspired rock musician, Jonathan (Garrett Hedlund) returning back home to NYC to see his dad, Robert (Richard Jenkins) who suffering immensely from cancer, deciding to finally pull the plug. He wants to do this, not with his wife (Anne Archer) and son but also with his successful lawyer daughter, Karen (Jessica Brown Findlay) who is attempting to prevent him from what she felt was her dad making an irrational decision. I liked some of the general conversation exchanges between brother and sister, as they put their differences aside.