This is a movie with a lot of fairly cheap symbolism. There is very little reference or insight into the why of things. Avoiding spoilers, I need to stay a bit cryptic here. Why is grandmother, who never came to her son and grandson, now here? Why is the business in the UK so urgent, that one character that could bring a more interesting dynamic, leaving for most of the movie? Why is the grandson self-destructive? The casting of father and son is okay, the casting of Ruth is questionable, as her appearance is not as rough as would be approprite for the role. This is a sweet old lady, with a nice smile, not a rough war correspondent with heavy alcoholism.... In short, aside from some scenes with a bit of fun, there was very little in this movie that seemed in sync with the core of the story to be told. The happy ending underlines this dramatically. Pity.
Review of Juniper
