Directed by:
Matt RossScreenplay:
Matt RossCinematography:
Stéphane FontaineComposer:
Alex SomersCast:
Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Samantha Isler, Charlie Shotwell, Frank Langella, Ann Dowd, Steve Zahn (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father (Viggo Mortensen) devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent. (Entertainment One)
Videos (12)
Reviews (13)
51st KVIFF - completely off the mark. In a rational person, the “funny” sequences will probably arouse concern and fear. That psychopath commanding a radical, potentially terrorist cell in the forest should end up behind bars, instead of back in the family circle in the style of “we all love each other”. When it looks like the voice of reason will prevail (Frank Langella’s), it ends up being flushed down the toilet. I’m allergic to this alternative stuff, so I was hostile against this film from the beginning. The rating might be too harsh, but it comes from the heart. If you feel otherwise, you’ll be satisfied.
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An indie film in a highly addictive presentation. It has beautiful performances (perhaps Aragorn deserves a major award), with a catchy narration and topped off with a big idea that the filmmakers manage to sell almost perfectly. I'm not saying that I wouldn't also occasionally love go somewhere in the middle of uninhabited forests, away from religious fanaticism, gluttony, social chaos and greed, and then read how to behave on a first amorous encounter (and the resulting knowledge would undoubtedly be as useless to me as my current ignorance), and I would play the uplifting country version of “Sweet Child O'Mine”... Not as free-thinking as its heroes, but certainly a playful and inspiring work that deserves universal attention and respect. 85%
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Agitprop? Nope. Perhaps at first glance, it’s a clueless-looking road movie in the end, but without unnecessary pathos it both praises and denounces the strength of family togetherness, which can reconcile the pitfalls of socialism and the exploitation of capitalism. This will still mature intellectually. 4 ½.
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No world is complete until it encounters other worlds. Liberation of food and the dead, Santa Chomsky, self-awareness worse than unconscious selfishness, and deviations from the chosen path reveal the thin line between pretense and conviction. When there is left-wing anarchist resistance against capitalism, it has to be done in a pedaled bus! Alex Somers, with a hint of Sigur Rós, provides a fitting audio component, while Mortensen, even while showing a pair of elderly folks a small Dúnedain, offers stimulating ambivalence. His final scene at the dinner table bears a certain parallel to that in A History of Violence. The past is gone yet forever with us.
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This typical “Sundance movie” is a feel-good tragicomedy with a nice soundtrack, eccentric but likeable characters and a predictable ending. The raw opening scene depicting the first of a series of rituals aimed at preparing Bodevan for his entry into adulthood gives the viewer hope that Captain Fantastic will be more truthful than ingratiating, while not offering any wonderfully easy solutions to complex problems. But from a celebration of life outside of the system that strips people of their individuality, the film soon collapses into a hackneyed story about the necessity of socialisation and respect for social conventions. The characters may not be willing to accept the norms of the world that they have scorned for so long without question, but their transformation is still tied to their subordination to the dominant ideology. Though the director sensitively spreads the attention among all of the members of the family, led by Mortensen’s practically perfect protagonist (whose mythologisation, already evident in the film’s title, is not problematised by Ross), he cannot disguise the fact that his characters serve mainly as walking arguments in support of the conservative idea of the importance of a happy family. Thanks to its pleasing shot compositions, slightly cynical humour, reasonable amount of pathos and well-timed use of upbeat music, the film evokes the intended emotions, but these quickly fade, because Captain Fantastic is not built on a convincing foundation. We can believe neither in the characters, who too easily give up everything they have fought so long and hard for, nor, because of that, in the would-be non-conformist, anti-consumerist message. 70%
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