Fiction to Film: Oscar Nominations in 2011

Recently I previewed the recent trending with Oscar nominations and novels. The connection is not dominant, but 30% of Oscar winners over the past 10 years have come from long-form fiction.

So with that in mind, and a general interest in faction-to-film adapatations, I've created the list of 2011 films based on novels. Feel free to use this as your 2011 reading list.

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Martin Scorsese will direct Hugo Cabret based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Asa Butterfield plays the part of Hugo, amongst the co-stars of Emily Mortimer, Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, and Chloe Moretz.

David Cronenberg is to be directing an adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis.

Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Mark Strong & Ciarán Hinds star in the adaptation of the thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre.

Steven Spielberg produces and directs a WWI story with the film based on Michael Moprurgo's book War Horse.

Famous Brazilian director Walter Salles bring Jack Kerouac's On The Road to life with Sam Riley in the lead, and a unique set of supporting actors including Amy Adams, Viggo Mortenson, Kristen Dunst, Kristen Stewart, Elisabeth Moss and Steve Buscemi.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver is being directed and adapted by Lynee Ramsay. The story tells about a mother of a 15 year old son who killed multiple people at his school in Columbine-style massacre, writing letters to her estranged husband. The film will star Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly.

Johnny Depp stars in the adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary.

Alexander Payne directs and adapts from the novel The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings with a cast of characters that includes George Clooney, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer and Beau Bridges.

A talented cast of women (Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard) star in the adaptation of the best-selling novel Kathryn Stockett's The Help. Although if there is a star people talk about once this film comes out, I expect it might be Octavia Spencer.

Australian Nobel Prize laurete Patrick White will have one of his works The Eye of the Stormadapted with Australian actor Geoffery Rush as the lead.

David Fincher will direct the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson.

Michael C. Hall stars in a film about a man who's begins an affair with a former high school classmate in the adaptation of Douglas Light's East Fifth Bliss.

Cary Fukunga directs the reimagining of the classic Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, and William H. Macy star in the adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly.

Robert Duvall, Lucas Black and Melissa Leo will all perform in the inspirational golf film Seven Days in Utopia based off the inspiration book Golf's Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia by Dr. David L Cook.

Helen Mirren, William Hurt, Carey Mulligan, and Sam Reilly will star in Brighton Rock based on the classic Graham Greene. This novel was previously adapted as film in 1947.

There is still talk this will be the year we see Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, but no cast has been announced.

Anna Farris and Chris Evans star in What's Your Number? based on 20 Times a Lady: A Novel by Karyn Bosnak.

Wayne Wang directs with Fox Searchlight Distributing an adaptation of Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Rod Lurie directs and adapts the screenplay for the film Straw Dogs based on the book The siege of Trencher's Farm by Gordon M. Williams.

The Roman Britian trilogy has an adaptation in the film The Eagle based on Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth.

From the director of Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat, Paul W.S. Anderson directs his own direction of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers.

Robert De Niro, Jason Stratham and Clive Owen star in a film about a Navy Seal forced out of retirement to save his friend in The Killer Elite based on The Feather Men by Ranulph Fiennes.

William Hurt, Dallas Roberts and Zach Gilford star in The River Why based on the novel by David James Duncan.

John Madden directs The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel based on the book These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach.

David Yates directs the final installment the Harry Potter franchise with part two of J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Similarly, part I of the Twillight Saga's fourth book is released in cinemas as we will see part one of Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn.

Brendan Gleeson directs and stars in an adaptation Flann O'Brein's At Swim-Two-Birds.

On the kid scene, Angelica Huston stars in an adaptation of Fransesca Simon's Horrid Henry, and Jim Carrey stars in an adaptation of Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

Jumping into Psych

With many of our favorite regular shows having final seasons over this past year (24 and Lost), I was more than willing to introduce a new television show to my wife & I's TV repertoire.

After a recommendation of something just enjoyable (non-faddish, awardish, sensationally popular) we've begun by jumping in to the USA series Psych. This show began in 2006, and is expected to begin it's sixth season shortly (multiple seasons always encourages me that the show is worth jumping in to...it's always sad when you begin a show when it initially airs, love it, and watch it fizzle or get canceled).

So after watching the 2006 Pilot episode of season 1, we're interested and ready to jump in.

James Roday's portrayal of the main character (photographic memory, pretending to my psychic) is purely enjoyable, reminding me of a character like Hugh Laurie's House with all the wit and intelligence, with an equal dose of arrogance, yet lacking the bitterness and baggage.

Speaking of House, the pilot also had a role played by important season 4 House character and Mad Man minor character, Anne Dudek...an actress who I'd like to see have more opportunities. Although it looks like her role is limited to the pilot...too bad.

So...this is what we're watching, so you might hear more about this series, and if you haven't seen it and want to join us in watching it, we're just getting started.

Novels Adapted to Screen & Oscar's Biggest Prize (2001-2010)

The ebb and flow of the present of adapted novels becoming best picture contenders is something I've enjoyed tracking. There was a time in 2007 when I wrote off the idea of best pictures coming from adapted feature length work, and as soon as did, the awards of that following year proved I should consider otherwise.

So in the spirit of previous discussions, here's a list of the role the fiction novel has played in the best picture race.

Past 10 Years Stats:

• 2010 films - best picture nominees: 2 of 10 adapted from a novel (Charles Portis' True Grit; Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone)

• 2009 films best picture nominees: 2 of 10 adapted from a novel (Saphire's Push [source material for Precious]; Walter Kirn's Up in the Air)

• 2008 films best picture nominees: 2 of 5 adapted from a novel (Vikas Swarup's Q & A [source material for Slumdog Millionaire]*; Bernard Schlink's The Reader)

• 2007 film best picture nominees: 3 of 5 adapated from a novel (Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men*; Ian McEwan's Atonement; Upton Sinclaire's Oil! [source material for There Will Be Blood])

• 2006 films best picture nominees: 0 of 5 adapted from a novel

• 2005 films best picture nominees: 0 of 5 adapted from a novel

• 2004 films best picture nominees: 1 of 5 adapted from a novel (Rex Pickett's Sideways)

• 2003 films best picture nominees: 3 of 5 adapted from novels (J.R.R. Tolkein's The Return of the King*, Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, Dennis Lehane's Mystic River)

• 2002 films best picture nominees: 2 of 5 adapted from novels (J.R.R. Tolkein's The Two Towers, Michael Cunningham's The Hours)

• 2001 films best picture nominees: 2 of 5 adapted from novels (Andre Dubus' In the Bedroom, J.R.R. Tolkein's The Fellowship of the Ring)

In the past ten years, 17 of 60 best picture nominations adapted from novels - 28.3%

In the past ten years 3 of 10 best picture winners adapted from novels - 30%

That in mind, I don't hold my breathe when a highly praised novel gets the green light for adaptation - but I eagerly watch those adapted works curiously to see if the directors and screenwriters can convert magic from the page and make those stories into big screen magic.

Super Bowl Movie Commercials 2010 & 2011

Super Bowl commercials are high pressure time slots with lots of viewers and cost lots of bucks. When it comes to movie commercials, these high-priced times slots can perhaps be the first taste for general movie goers of what's to come in the year ahead.

Last year I did a similar post and showed that we saw that a Super Bowl commercials didn't guarentee box office success, in fact there were some films with under performance at the box office, indicating a Super Bowl commercial can only do so much.

Let's look at how 2010 films faired, arranged from highest grossing to lowest grossing. You will see a wide range of results. And while it might not guarentee success, a Super Bowl commercial could be one piece of a successful ad campaign in some of the most successful box office success stories.

I have included their domestic gross and ranking for the year.

• Toy Story 3 ($415 million, #1)
• Alice in Wonderland ($334 million, #2)
• Iron Man 2 ($312 million, #3)
• Despicable Me ($251 million, #7)
• The Last Airbender ($131 million, #18)
• Shutter Islands ($128 million, #19)
• Robin Hood ($105 million, #24)
• Prince of Persia ($90 million, #35)
• The Wolfman ($61 million, #53)

For Super Bowl XLV (2011) here are the movie advertisements we are expected to see. There are quite a few films...how many of the 2011 top 10 box office films will come from this list? And which ones will fail to get their return on investment from their superbowl advertisement?

• Battle: Los Angeles
• The Eagle
• Just Go with It
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Priest
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Cowboys and Aliens
• Limitless
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Super 8
• Thor
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
• Take Me Home Tonight

Cutting the Umbilical Cord

Hey look, that's me in the picture cutting the umbilical cord after my son Shepherd was born a couple days ago. Welcome Shepherd!

As soon as my wife had her Cesarean section and they were mid-surgery (having taken our son out and preparing to stitch her back up again) they offered me a chance to jump into the action and cut the umbilical cord.

This practice of offering the father the chance to cut the cord seems incredibly strange to me. There was definitely a part of me that had two competing thoughts at the time...the first was, "you guys are the experts, and I don't anticipate any personal satisfaction from this practice, you can go ahead." The second thought I had was..."why not? I clearly can't mess up if they offering me the chance to do this, and I'd hate to regret turning down what could be a magical experience later."

Well...so I cut the cord, and was it magical? Hardly...it was like using scissors to cut through a gooey rubber tube, and the whole birthing situation is a huge miracle with guts and goo, and I felt like I was dealing more with the goo part then the miracle at that point.

I'm not sure where this practice originated of letting the dad jump in on this portion of the birthing experience, but it's mighty strange. Obviously, there's not much you can mess up with in this practice, and the cord is already clamped when you cut.

At the same time the symbolism behind the auction of "cutting the cord" and severing the intimate care system between the mother and the child is definitely goofy, because it's not like after that moment the mother is abandoned and the child free, because the mother's role is vitally important that day, that week, and the rest of eternity. The kid just has there own way to process blood and oxygen that they'll be using for the first time and symbolizing that with a pair of scissors is an interesting modern tradition to the birthing experience.

But mom and baby are healthy and at home, and the umbilical cord...well, it's doing it's thing too.

127 Hours & Aron Ralston's Motivation

I recently wrote a post critical of the image of father's in 2010 films, claiming that generally the presentation of father's is limited, functionally not present, or very negative.

I realized that there was a unique father presentation in the film 127 Hours, that while minimal in screen time is hugely significant in the storyline.

In the film James Franco portrays the real life story of Aron Ralston, a young fearless outdoorsman who finds himself trapped and all alone in a Utah canyon.

In Ralston's own book describing the incident, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, he explains a transition in which he goes from being willing to die having carved his epitaph into a wall and recording his last will and testimony to suddenly having a new surge to live at any cost.

His desire to live came from a vision/hallucination of a young boy which he interpreted to be his son.

Where Ralston had come to peace with his own life, the vision of becoming a father not only gave him hope, but also gave him motivation to do the unthinkable, a graphic self-amputation of his arm in order to free himself.

In the film 127 Hours, Danny Boyle does not exclude this from his story, and artful finds a way to tell this part of a story with a couch in the canyon where people sit and we see Ralston's visions.

As the film ends, we see the present day Ralston on this couch with his wife Jessica and son Leo...the son who Ralston claims was the boy he saw in the canyon who inspired him to save himself for the sake of fatherhood. And perhaps to me, this is the most interesting and meaningful image of father experience presented in the films of 2010.

(Image via dailymail.co.uk article, A film you'd cut your arm off to see... climber Aron Ralston reveals never-before-seen pictures of his 127 Hours ordeal)

John Barry Remembered: My First Associations

John Barry, famous film composer died on January 30 of this year at the age of 77.

I've heard and seen some nice pieces on his death and most are framed in the way that introduces the name John Barry to general audiences by mentioning that he's won 5 Oscars and is best known for his scoring of 11 James Bond films.

Before I had ever watched a John Barry scored film (with the exception of Dances With Wolves, perhaps) I was learning to play the saxophone.

I'm sure many people who've played an instrument can relate to the scenario where you are beginning to play an instrument but early on become weary of playing "Hot Crossed Buns", "Mary Had A Little Lamb", and "When The Saints Go Marching In."

So, it wasn't long before I got a music book or two with hit movie songs. Of course, I didn't know the majority of the songs or their films, and even if I did they were still too advanced for my technical ability. But I'd give them a try.

One song I remember embracing was the theme from Midnight Cowboy, written by John Barry. I didn't know the story of this film about an unsuccessful hustler in New York, but I knew that there was something enjoyable in the sad lonely descending scales that made up this piece, and I could execute that sound when I played it on my sax.

I would pretend that the song had soulful lyrics that was simply the repetition of the words "Mid-ni---ght Cow-boy, Mid-night Cow-boy" over and over down those scales that in the original version were done with a harmonica not a saxophone.

I'm pretty sure that same same song book had the winning theme to "Born Free" as well. Which I distinctly also remember playing later, and I've never seen the movie Born Free before. But I know the music.

And perhaps that's the magic of Barry's music is that it's intrigue was capable of superseding the films in which it was written for, but at the same time dramatically shaped the feel and tone of the films. Honestly, the music written for a James Bond film is intriguing and interesting on it's own, but in the films it becomes a character itself dramatically increasing the adventure, the excitement, and the intrigue.

Similarly, I think the role of music was a significant influence in the role of many of the films John Barry wrote...Midnight Cowboy, not an exception.

(The image above is from the album John Barry: The Best of the EMI years)

2010 Releases of Oscar Contender Films

One of my hopes when the change over the past couple years with the Oscars having a 10 film race is that Oscar-worthy films wouldn't all be sandwiched into release dates all in the last six weeks of the year.

Here's a look at the non-festival US release dates for this year's 10 films at an idea of what award season with a 10 film race was this year. Like last year when I compiled this list it is pretty clear that award season even in a 10 film race won't start until Summer, although it is worth looking at both the big studio films and the Indy films that come out even in the summer.

I like how this picture indicates the potential for a longer award season though, and hope that studios will consider a wider range of calendering possibilities for their award-worthy films.

Winter's Bone (June 11, 2010)
Toy Story 3 (June 18, 2010)
The Kids Are All Right (July 9, 2010)
Inception (July 16, 2010)
The Social Network (October 1, 2010)
127 Hours (November 5, 2010)
The King's Speech (November 26, 2010)
Black Swan (December 3, 2010)
The Fighter (December 10, 2010)
True Grit (December 22, 2010)

(Pictured above Jennifer Lawrence from the critically acclaimed and best picture nominated film Winter's Bone.)

Reflecting on Father Roles in 2010 Films

2010 seems like it was a lousy year for Dad's in films. And maybe I'm missing a beautiful perforamnce of a father figure, and if so, fill me in - but Dad's seem like they really drop the ball or have no role at all.

If I were to chose one respectful film for fatherly roles it would be The King's Speech and it's very much a default choice based on the fact that the two central real life characters King George VI (Colin Firth) and Lionel Logue (Geoffery Rush) are both fathers, and really seem like they're attempt to live valuable lives in their respective careers and roles is an extension of their desire to provide and tend to their family.

But apart from King George VI turning his daughters (Elizabeth & Margeret) to the royal care of his wife and court, the onscreen time for such a story is limited and the relationship relatively unexplored.

Otherwise, where father-roles do play a bigger part they seem to represent the role of Father in less than glamourous way.

I write this thinking of Mark Ruffalo's role as the contacted sperm donor in The Kids Are All Right, who really didn't have the chance at all to be a father, and when given the opportunity really flubs it up with personal indiscretion.

Another similar example of a dad flubbing up family life with personal choices is Oliver Platt's character in Please Give, but I've already complained about that film.

I think of Winter's Bone where Ree Dolly has to place herself in personal danger in order to help save her younger siblings minimal sense of stability as a result of their father crime activity and skipping bale.

Even in the film Inception, there is a negative father relationship in the film between the ailing Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite) and his son and heir Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy) who will inherit his father's energy empire when he dies.

But beyond that, more than these negative father roles I also just notice a general absence of stories involving fathers.

Sometimes that is a functional part of the story, such as in True Grit where the story essentially begins with the death of the father, and perhaps it could be argued that the way Mattie Ross is able to carry herself and honor her father is a testimony of the way her father has raised her.

Other father excluding films worth mentioning (and again this is often a simple function of the story) include The Social Network, 127 Hours, The Ghost Writer, The Town, Letters to Juliet, Toy Story 3, Never Let Me Go...and the list could go on.

Help me find the exception, but please don't suggest that the best representation of a father in cinema was Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in the film The Tooth Fairy.

(pictured above King George VI and his royal family as portrayed in The King's Speech watching a film together)

GasLand

GasLand, one of the 5 films up for best documentary feature at this year's academy awards, is a fascinating film.

My awareness of the natural gas phenomenon is relatively high, and so terms like hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and natural gas shale are not uncommon words.

Typically when these things are discussed they are discussed with balanced skepticism, acknowledging the great economic opportunity presented (both to people with mineral rights, and America with easily accessible fossil fuels). Yet at the same time, there is often some skepticism when these stories are presented questioning the environmental and health risk of fracking.

And here's where Josh Fox creates his entertain and disturbing documentary perfect for those who like health mystery, on-site investigation, big business scandal and government conspiracy.

Perhaps the story of Fox's GasLand is interesting to me because of the amount of time Fox spends in places where I have lived...adding to the fear and skepticism.

I have watched the news stories of locals who are able to light their tap water on fire because of the gas and chemicals in their water system, I have heard of people selling their mineral rights for corporations to access the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth area. And so this film is plenty disturbing.

But beyond being disturbing, the debut documentary features a snappy style that has plenty of dry humor and sarcasm to make for an enjoyable feature. And anything that happens fast in the business world needs someone like Fox to add to the voice that says "let's slow down and think about this."

One of Each

Person: Do you guys know what you're having yet?
Me: A Boy.
Person: How great, you'll have one of each.

My wife is now one week past her due date, and so it's not surprising that the topic of our family and my wife's pregnancy is brought up regularly. You'd expect as much with our life on semi-pause waiting for our son's arrival and my wife's belly starting to look like an over-inflated beach ball (a beautiful beach ball...but...huge).

That being said, an observation from this past week is how so many conversations with casual acquaintances go like the conversation above. We have an adorable two year old girl, and when people find out we're having a boy regularly comment on how great it will be we will have "one of each."

This repeated conversation has started to be some what offensive to me. Now, I know, I personally offend people accidentally on a regular basis, so I don't speak from a lofty position as Ms. Emily Post on modern manners, but I do find it somewhat strange how often this comes up.

The comment seems to imply a number of things.

Implications:

• The ideal situation is to have two kids
• Once you have two kids you can rest at being "finished" with the perfect set.
• Having two children of the same gender would be less favorable.
• Having two children of the same gender might make a family consider "trying again" to finish the family with both male and female children.
• That a parent wants to have a child that share their gender.

The last implication of the shared gender child, comes from the realization of when I say I'm having a son, that people seem to imply that as a father I might have a higher degree of excitement about the idea of having a son, that the absence of rearing a same-gender child might be a lost experience. This came up regularly before we knew the gender and people would often say "I bet you would really like a son." Or they would say to my wife, "I bet RC really hopes you'll have a boy."

This logic seemed to operate on a set of expectations me and my wife did not have. We were excited to have a second child, regardless of gender. We are not sure if our family will grow past two children, but the gender of our child had no bearing on that decision. And as a male, I'm excited about having a son and the special relationship that it entails, but I find a special relationship in the father-daughter relationship as well and while I expect differences in life and that relationship due to gender, I expect differences in relationships with both my children due to other factors as well such as their personal interests and personalities.

That being said, you won't catch me using the term "one of each" in a sentence, nor when I see someone that is pregnant suggest that they might be hoping for a child of a certain gender, especially if that hope is that they can even the numbers out in their family or introduce a new gender to their pack.

(Image Credits: The picture above is via Snapshot Pictures out of Plano, TX.)

Counting Up Nods: A Dozen Crowns

Usually the film with the most Oscar nominations goes on to win the best picture prize. This is important to note today since the favorite to win (The Social Network) had 4 fewer nominations than The King's Speech, so if something seems like a sure thing, let the campaigning begin.

Looking at this list by nominations alone, The Social Network doesn't seem as quiet as special. In fact, I'm shocked to see how many nominations True Grit has received, considering it's popularity among audiences but relatively unexciting award season (keep in mind it had ZERO Golden Globe Nominations).

So here's the nomination count of the 10 Best Picture nominated films ranked by number of nominations:

• The King's Speech (12 nominations)
• True Grit (10 nominations)
• Inception (8 nominations)
• The Social Network (8 nominations)
• The Fighter (7 nominations)
• 127 Hours (6 nominations)
• Black Swan (5 nominations)
• Toy Story 3 (5 nominations)
• The Kids Are All Right (4 nominations)
• Winter's Bone (4 nominations)

Happy Oscar Nomination Morning

Good morning Mo'Nique. Nice work with the announcements, my favorite part was that she fumbled over the word "foreign" in "foreign language film" but was able to announce all the nominees.

The instant reaction is the inclusion of Javier Bardem for best actor for Biutiful (instead of Robert Duvall for Get Low), Joel & Ethan Coen for best director for True Grit (the backlash will probably be that they got nominated instead of Christopher Nolan for Inception), the exclusion of Andrew Garfield in The Social Network (with John Hawkes' Winter's Bone performance presumably taking his place), and Michelle Williams scoring a nod for best actress for Blue Valentine (instead of Julianne Moore for The Kid's Are All Right), and then The Illusionist took the 3rd animated slot instead of Despicable Me or Tangled.

Oh, and Hailee Steinfeld did get placed in the supporting category. Category fraud.

Most of the top 10 nominees seemed a lock, except there were 11 films to fit into the spots, the film that was left out was the film The Town which was nominated in favor of other fringe nominees largely considered to be Toy Story 3, 127 Hours and Winter's Bone.

More thoughts to come, but these are the knee jerk thoughts until I get to look at the rest of the nominees that don't get the telecast treatment.

Of yes, if someone is keeping track of where I have "mispoke this year" I had previously predicted (before the release of the film) that Black Swan would not show up in Oscar's top 10 best films, but clearly award season and the film's success has made it pretty clear for awhile that Black Swan would show up here.

Here's the top 10 best films:

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The King's Speech

The Kids Are All Right

127 Hours

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

Winter's Bone

This Way of Life

There is certainly different types of documentaries, and this film one of this years 15 potential Oscar documentary nominees, This Way of Life directed by Thomas Burstyn is one of those films that is a shoot and edit type of documentary that often feels like you're watching someone else's home movie. The compelling part of this story is that the family is very different than most families.

The film is the story of a father/husband who is dedicated to maintaining his personal integrity, which means not giving into modern conventions of labor and consumerism. As a result he does what he can to live off the land and earning an income is a minimal concern.

So this man, Peter Karena, and his wife, Colleen Karena have lots of children, raise horses, kill their prey, and deal with a family that is trying to make life extra difficult through kicking them out of the family home and forcing them for a season to live out in the wilderness.

But oh yes...I'm forgetting one of the most important parts of this film. It takes place in New Zealand. The result is that the scenery is often absolutely stunning and there are times when I wish for subtitles to comprehend what's being said.

Will most people see this film and think "golly, I want to go raise my kids off the land and live a wild and free existence?" Probably not, although perhaps the message of this film (if the film makers intend for there to be one) is that there is another way to do life and perhaps in that there might be freedom.

The narrative of this film is limited, but I think some people would really relate to this film whether it's the landscape, the horses, a masculine image of fatherhood, or the dream of something different for a family.