2018-19 award season provided audiences with two drug addiction dramas. Beautiful Boy starred Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell as father-and-son navigating the younger's addiction, with a clearer focus on the circular pattern of the disease; the latest, Ben Is Back from Peter Hedges, on the other hand, stars his son Lucas Hedges alongside Julia Roberts as a mother and her son who returns to the family home almost three months into his recovery. Ben Is Back failed to pick up any award traction but is nevertheless a solid, if flawed, drama that conveys the complexity of the familial bond under addiction stress.
When Ben (Hedges) surprisingly returns from his Sober Living Arrangement on Christmas Eve, his mother Holly (Roberts) is overjoyed to see him; when she begins hiding the jewellery, pills and money around the house, her daughter Ivy - who shares similar hesitancies with her step-father - questions her belief as to whether Ben has really changed at all. What begins as a small-scale domestic drama transforms into a mystery-thriller in the final act, in a move that weakens the film's effectiveness but still portrays the urgency and emotion of the situation.
At its most powerful and deeply affecting, Ben Is Back is a potent exploration of drug addiction, framed through a mother and son's relationship and the pressure his past and reappearance puts upon the family dynamic. Hedges' screenplay reduces the events down to a single day - Christmas Eve - and he maintains the uneasy atmosphere well; even when the story's third act dramatic contrivance is too heavy-handed in the execution, turning a behind-closed-doors tale into something far more procedural, it continues to operate strongest as a character (or rather, relationship) piece. That tonal jump is largely unnecessary and familiar in its thematic musing but concludes on a profound and bittersweet note.
Hedges' work behind the camera is similarly impressive. We are introduced to the family almost mid-sentence and yet there's a familiarity to their inner-relationships and dynamic immediately. Carefully observant, the intimacy of the opening half's direction seeks to intensify the claustrophobia of the home setting, as anxiety bubbles beneath the surface; as we become more involved in the investigations of the second half and final act, Hedges draws you into the events more actively and we continue on Ben's redemption journey with him, as if we are figuratively and literally by his side. It is smart, understated work and gives the film a raw authenticity that gives strength to the film's emotional core.
Ben Is Back's success rests with its lead performances though, and Lucas Hedges and (especially) Julia Roberts deliver stellar performances. Roberts is always a compelling screen presence and she tempers her emotionally-taut, motherly turn perfectly; her joy at her son's return masks an apprehension that flickers into view every now and then, only to be hidden again by her facade. As her anguish breaks through into the film's gruelling climatic moments, Roberts masters the unravelling superbly and with real sincerity. It's really sobering work.
Hedges brings a great deal of remorse to his role and we experience the pain of his journey to redemption due to his well-considered and nuanced approach. He continues to affirm his position as one of the strongest young performers in Hollywood, after comparably impressive work in Boy Erased. You believe in the relationship as Hedges and Roberts' chemistry is so believable and palpably felt; one particular scene in which Holly demands Ben to tell her where she should bury him is a pit-of-your-stomach moment sold entirely on the back of the pair's rapport: his emotional vulnerability and her emotional exasperation.
At its most powerful and deeply affecting, Ben Is Back is a potent exploration of drug addiction, framed through a mother and son's relationship and the pressure his past and reappearance puts upon the family dynamic. Hedges' screenplay reduces the events down to a single day - Christmas Eve - and he maintains the uneasy atmosphere well; even when the story's third act dramatic contrivance is too heavy-handed in the execution, turning a behind-closed-doors tale into something far more procedural, it continues to operate strongest as a character (or rather, relationship) piece. That tonal jump is largely unnecessary and familiar in its thematic musing but concludes on a profound and bittersweet note.
Hedges' work behind the camera is similarly impressive. We are introduced to the family almost mid-sentence and yet there's a familiarity to their inner-relationships and dynamic immediately. Carefully observant, the intimacy of the opening half's direction seeks to intensify the claustrophobia of the home setting, as anxiety bubbles beneath the surface; as we become more involved in the investigations of the second half and final act, Hedges draws you into the events more actively and we continue on Ben's redemption journey with him, as if we are figuratively and literally by his side. It is smart, understated work and gives the film a raw authenticity that gives strength to the film's emotional core.
Ben Is Back's success rests with its lead performances though, and Lucas Hedges and (especially) Julia Roberts deliver stellar performances. Roberts is always a compelling screen presence and she tempers her emotionally-taut, motherly turn perfectly; her joy at her son's return masks an apprehension that flickers into view every now and then, only to be hidden again by her facade. As her anguish breaks through into the film's gruelling climatic moments, Roberts masters the unravelling superbly and with real sincerity. It's really sobering work.
Hedges brings a great deal of remorse to his role and we experience the pain of his journey to redemption due to his well-considered and nuanced approach. He continues to affirm his position as one of the strongest young performers in Hollywood, after comparably impressive work in Boy Erased. You believe in the relationship as Hedges and Roberts' chemistry is so believable and palpably felt; one particular scene in which Holly demands Ben to tell her where she should bury him is a pit-of-your-stomach moment sold entirely on the back of the pair's rapport: his emotional vulnerability and her emotional exasperation.
Ben Is Back may not carry the same urgency as Beautiful Boy, or pull quite as intensely on the heartstrings, but it is a brilliantly-acted, heartfelt and well-meaning exploration of a subject matter that could easily become overwrought. Rarely shying away from the impact of drug addiction but tinged with hope, Ben Is Back works better as an understated domestic drama than it does a mystery-thriller but the raw power of the story, and Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges excellent work, alleviates those tonal imperfections.
7.5/10
Summary: Peter Hedges' Ben Is Back is a sobering, thematically powerful if uneven drama strengthened even further by stunning performances from Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges.
7.5/10
Summary: Peter Hedges' Ben Is Back is a sobering, thematically powerful if uneven drama strengthened even further by stunning performances from Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges.