The Confirmation (2016)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

For the first time direction, it is not a bad film. The 'Nebraska' writer did his best and I'm totally surprised how this little Canadian gem was not recognised extensively. In fact, it is one of the best films of the year among the PG13 ratings. A drama about a divorced freelance carpenter who babysits his son on a weekend, adventuring the city while preparing for his work on the Monday. When someone stole his tools, they both go after to look who took it and that takes the whole film to cover with some other small events on the side.Truly a heartwarming drama. You can compare it to films like 'The Pursuit of Happiness', but it had its own way dealing with the story contents. This is not a comedy, but slightly it is fun, as well as inspiring. It narrates the world is full of good and bad, and how we react to them accordingly. Particularly the main character who was desperate to come out of the bad day and to have some quality time with his son. It actually stayed neutral on the topics like theism and atheism, which has some influence in the narration, but revolved carefully around the social and other issues. So that makes there are more things to care about than fighting for nonsenses. That was really a good thing to focus on, maybe that's why I loved it.The opening and the end take place in the same location, but the difference was the 24 hours and its events. During that time, a boy who was struggling between what his mother believes and his doubts over those beliefs were somewhat influenced to clear his mind. I mean it was not intentional, the film to explain us through the boy, but they were described in the way of someone's daily life base, except it was not an ordinary day for him/them. It was a quite interesting take, and in the current world scenario, this is a wonderful theme for a film which also has high entertainment value."Well, I don't know what kind of trouble he can get in in a day."I don't know the Christian commandment (or any religious's equivalent) that referred in it, especially the meaning of the title, but according to the writer, he wanted to tell what happens if a good behaving young boy breaks all the rule in just one day. Besides, a bit of his own life experience, as well as the outline was inspired by 'Bicycle Thieves'. I don't know how the religious people take it, but I enjoyed it, kind of it is an awareness theme about the reality of the human world. So my disappointment is not the film, but how it was received. Once again an English film from the other region was turned down by the Americans. I hope the rest of the world won't react same way.It revolved between a father and son characters, so the side contributions were good, but does not require any praise. The Clive Owen, who I consider an ordinary actor was brilliant in this. He is not in any film franchise, especially the current trends superheroes and/or sci-fi, though happy to see him in such a beautiful one-off film. The boy was equally good, especially after the good show from 'St. Vincent', this is his another great character display. Looks like he's going to be a big name in the future.You can't believe it is just a 2 million dollar film. Great production quality with good performances, a better outcome than usual film with the same production value. From my perspective, it is an underrated film and also an undernoticed film. A fine film for everyone, particularly for the family audience. These are reasons why children as well should watch it, like there are no sexual or drug related material in it. Though the real reason is there are some contents that might help them to understand about such as financially struggling and sober parents, the reality of the society and as a coming-of-age film, it always kept its priorities on the top while narrating the tale, especially from the children's viewpoint.8/10

Eight year old Anthony is somewhat uneasy about spending the weekend with his alcoholic, down-on-his-luck carpenter dad Walt while his mom Bonnie and her new husband Kyle go to a Catholic retreat together. Walt is just as uneasy about spending time with Anthony, especially since their first day together is a series of characteristically unfortunate events, including his truck breaking down, his landlord locking him out of the house, and the theft of his toolbox, which he needs for an upcoming job. As Walt and Anthony set about finding the guy who stole the tools and improvise around their other misfortunes, they begin to discover a true connection with each other, causing Walt to become a better father and Anthony to reveal the promise and potential of the good man he will become. The Confirmation is a really great movie just for the performance of Clive Owen and the little kid the father - son relationship feels real and forced the movie has some problems mostly with this whole plot about him finding his toolbox but other than that this was a really great movie about a father and his son trying to connect once more but also a really nice dramatic film on it's own 9/10.

If you come to this looking for a comedy, you'll be badly disappointed. I'm not sure how this can be classified as comedy at all - there were some vaguely humorous exchanges, and some moments of mirth worthy of a wry grin (mainly from the young lead actor), but nothing bordering on comedy.However, if you come looking for a feelgood, generally light movie suitable for the whole family (teens and up), complete with enough moments of drama to keep it interesting, you will be satisfied. Not over the top delirious, but happy that your time and money wasn't wasted.

It feels like a lifetime since I've seen Clive Owen in a movie. I thought he retired from acting. No matter. He shines like nobody's business in 2016's The Confirmation, a sort of cinematic slice of grated Americana (even though it was filmed in Canada). While watching this thing, you kinda wish it was all shot in black and white. Either way, I was easily enthralled.Owen plays Walt, an alcoholic trying to abstain from his intrusive habit. He goes through withdrawal, avoids temptation when he sees nothing but wussy wine coolers in his ex-wife's refrigerator, and turns his head when he drives up to various taverns. He knows that if he gets intoxicated, he'll never get to hang out with his son Anthony again (played wonderfully by Midnight Special's Jaeden Lieberher). Speaking of his son, well Anthony's first Confirmation and/or Communion is coming up. This vehicle chronicles him and daddy-o spending a weekend together leading up to those events.Clive Owen stripping himself down, shucks a cocky air and dives deep into character. His Walt in a sense, is a good person on the inside but at the same time, a down on his luck kind of guy. He's getting evicted from his house, his car won't start, and the tools he uses for his odd jobs in carpentry, have all been stolen. At a running time of 90 minutes, Walter and Anthony try to track down the thief of said tools and bond quietly in the process.Bottom line: The Confirmation despite being a little too dogged and small scale, is still a winner much of the way. With facile chemistry between the leads, it's more entertaining and less arty than most independent flicks.Containing a hoot of a supportive performance from Patton Oswalt, an almost unrecognizable Matthew Modine, and a setting complacent to the state of Washington (at least that's what the license plates revealed), "Confirmation" reminded me of 2000's Wonder Boys, last year's Grandma, and an Alexander Payne film (it seems logical being that director Bob Nelson wrote Payne's Oscar-nominated Nebraska). What's on screen is character-driven and whimsical with a certain aroma of sadness. In essence, it's like a road trip movie confined to a medium-sized town in which various, peculiar people fade in and out. And since The Confirmation is billed as a comedy, the humor is there but it's invariably dry and off-kilter. You have to pay really close attention in order to catch any truthful zingers (if you do laugh, it distracts you from what is otherwise a depressing yet rewarding experience).Rookie director Bob Nelson keeps the atmospherics damp and overcast but lets his camera mainly capture the forgotten love between father and son. He also wants you the viewer, to fixate on whether or not Walt can get his act together and get his misunderstood life back on track. Nelson edits in chunks as "Confirmation" goes back and forth between coming-of-age eradication (Anthony can't decide what to say at Confession, can't decide if he should go to church, and thinks he's not being true to his Catholic faith) and chronic alcoholism tutorials (when Walt can't get his hands on a stiff drink, he talks to himself and has weird stomach pains).Lastly, despite some rough edges to go along with a questionable PG-13 rating, The Confirmation still has a twangy, feel good soundtrack, decent camera-work echoing all things Payne, and a sense of being stately offbeat (that's a good thing, trust me). Rating: A "confirmed" 3 stars.