Snails pace with two aged adults fighting over peanuts ...its a display of over-indulgence to the nth degree ... bruce dern plays the same role in every film he's ever been in ... i was surprised that ms bujold went along with the farce ...this game is not played in the vermont woods but on a hollywood set .... yuk

First I am disgusted with the movie industries insistence to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, often just once. This is obviously some type of anti-Christian strategy. There is nothing good about this movie. Terrible waste of time.

The budget on this movie was pretty small as an independent film. What saves it is the great actors. The acting was terrific; I gave this movie a seven because of the acting. Most of the sets were fine and the costumes were realistic also. But it struggled with production value, pacing, editing, and how some of the scenes ended and began. That's were a seasoned editor, screenwriter, and director would have helped. There were several rough spots because the screenplay was clearly clunky. A better screenplay would have produced better scene opportunities. Sometimes the dialogue didn't make sense - like when the grandson asks, "What name did she call you before she died?" No one asks that kind of thing. Not even a 1950's kid. The information was not necessary. Some of the scenes were awkward with no lead-in and ended with the viewer wondering why the scene was included since it didn't push the story along nor really show character development. Examples include the teacher being locked in an outhouse for an extended period of time, Austin Sr. talking to the cow-stealing landlord, or the saddle bag being open. A savvy editor and director knows which scenes are irrelevant and gets rid of them. That being said, Bruce Dern, Geneviève Bujold, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick were wonderful to watch.