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What happens after the fact is the common
dilemma behind tragedies in our lives. What happens after we’ve
conquered cancer? What happens after our loved one decides they’re not
interested in being with us any longer? And what happens when someone
you loved so dearly leaves you behind? How do you find the strength to
keep going on? Josh Sternfeld examines the utter ruins of a family
that’s been torn down by tragedy, and how easily it can all just comes
tumbling down once a key element of a small family suddenly dies.
Anthony LaPaglia is great as the embittered dad Jim, a man who has to
face life without his sons, and without his family.
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It’s instantly recognized that
perhaps this was a man who based his life around his family,
and now has to realize that his sons are no longer apart of
his life. And LaPaglia manages to perfectly express this
loneliness and sadness throughout “Winter Solstice” as he
fights to keep his sons at his sides, and fails quite often.
Jim is a rather tragic character who has to attempt to
restart his life, which his sons resent him for.
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Often times he forces them into things
because he’s afraid to be without a companion at his side, and really
can’t get that he doesn’t have a hold on them anymore. His oldest son
Gabe, played by Aaron Stanford, has already grown out of his father’s
grasp, and refuses to follow any of his orders. Ultimately, “Winter
Solstice” painfully examines how their mom could have very well kept
them bonded and tight, and now that she’s gone, they’ve drifted apart in
what seemed to be a long time coming. Sternfeld’s drama is often pretty
sad, and the gripping performances help this emotional drama about the
aftermath of tragedy work well.
One of the ultimate flaws that left “Winter
Solstice” an utterly cold and rather unsatisfying drama is that we’re
essentially introduced to sub-plots and plot devices all of which are
left unresolved or completely dangling. What ever happened between Jim
and Molly and how come we never built on this relationship? Is it a
relationship or just a friendship? What ultimately happened with Jim
putting his son’s mattresses out on the lawn? Why didn’t Gabe mind it
much? Why was Pete so violent? Why did Gabe automatically just quit his
girlfriend? And then we’re left with lead-ups to drama that is never
given closure. What was the deal with the hinted friendship between Pete
and his summer school teacher? What was the deal behind the scenes
involving Pete suddenly showing he knew more than he let on? All of it
feels so utterly unresolved and half-assed, and “Winter Solstice” never
develops any of the threads it builds for us from the beginning.
Meanwhile, Sternfeld relies heavily on montages that never work and come
off flat. Rather than attempting to build characterization, we’re
instead bombarded with montages set to a soft score that never works,
because it keeps us at a healthy distance. “Winter Solstice” could be
interesting, if anything were resolved or fully developed.
In spite of its awfully unresolved sub-plots and devices that are left
dangling and open, "Winter Solstice" is an interesting examination of
tragedy and its effects on the folks around it, and how sometimes one
person can keep together folks who can't exist in the same environment.
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