I have to admit my heart sank a little at the knowingly self-indulgent opening montages of this would-be genre staple. That old familiar comedy of manners where the outsider goes home to meet the in-laws for the first time, and oh the misunderstandings that ensue.
Pleasing then that this really rose above its peers in how deft a touch it brings to such familiar proceedings. Sure the family are quirkily dysfunctional folk of simple tastes - but never does the movie take the aloof tone that the fish out of water daughter in-law adopts in her attempts to fit in.
Sure she has some of her superiority stripped away but her humanity is graciously left in tact. It's not all just heart-warming salt of the earth stuff, these are pretty forlorn characters but you certainly feel more compassion for them than a mere guilty acknowledgement of their small-town outlook.
Interesting to note the fate of the little wooden bird that the father carves throughout the film. I was expecting an unspoken connection between father and daughter in-law which is sealed in the final farewells with the presentation of the gift - but I love the fact that he knows she would see it for it's art and not it's heart and winds up off-handedly offering it to his wife who might not see his craftsman's soul, but understands the intent of the man she loved and married.
Pleasing then that this really rose above its peers in how deft a touch it brings to such familiar proceedings. Sure the family are quirkily dysfunctional folk of simple tastes - but never does the movie take the aloof tone that the fish out of water daughter in-law adopts in her attempts to fit in.
Sure she has some of her superiority stripped away but her humanity is graciously left in tact. It's not all just heart-warming salt of the earth stuff, these are pretty forlorn characters but you certainly feel more compassion for them than a mere guilty acknowledgement of their small-town outlook.
Interesting to note the fate of the little wooden bird that the father carves throughout the film. I was expecting an unspoken connection between father and daughter in-law which is sealed in the final farewells with the presentation of the gift - but I love the fact that he knows she would see it for it's art and not it's heart and winds up off-handedly offering it to his wife who might not see his craftsman's soul, but understands the intent of the man she loved and married.