Everlasting Moments

Director: Jan Troell
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 2.0

Lackluster (and episodic) family drama has a husband and wife - with several kids - finding "happiness" in activities outside their marriage: the husband likes to sleep around while his wife dabbles in photography and hides her feelings for the neighborhood photo shop owner. Aside from its crushing familiarity, this does not have the poignancy of similar tales of growing up by filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman or even Emir Kusturica - it insists there's beauty in the sludge, but honestly, it seems to be more grime than bliss. Bad Boy Papa, a bi-polar sort, threatens to kill his wife with a razor and behaves like a monster when he isn't taking care of an abused horse (named after a dead anarchist ... symbolism alert!) or playing with his kids; Mom's photos, like the rest of this movie, are plain, dreary and only skim the surface.