Last night I went to see Being Flynn at the movies. Have you seen it yet?
Goodness, it was so sad. Yet surprisingly it still managed to portray an element of hope. It’s based on the story of writer/poet Nick Flynn and his father Jonathan who have been estranged since Nick’s early childhood.
Played brilliantly by Robert De Niro, Jonathan is a pretty unpleasant character. He’s racist, homophobic, drunk, and foul, all of which fester and explode into vitriolic rants. Contra to this, and beneath the venom, Jonathan holds firm to a belief of being a masterful writer who has written, or is writing, the greatest novel yet to be read.
Nick, on the other hand, a somewhat aspiring poet and writer, is a decent kind of a bloke. And even when falls into drugs for a while, you certainly feel for him. Let’s be honest, it can’t be easy wandering around with memories of a mother who took her life after reading a story you’d penned, and the ever present shadow of absent and destructive father.
They meet up at the homeless shelter where Nick works and this is where the story really takes off. There is nothing remotely close to rose-tinted story lines or ending to this movie. Their story is crudely portrayed, with every scene depicting a brutal life on the street as they fight against each other to survive their own personal demons and needs.
The ending is not predictable but rather presents what I thought was a beginning.
Rating: 9 out of 10 for Robert De Niro
Overall entertainment: 7
@Ruth2Day 