BigLove (2001) User Reviews

big actors in little short

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 11 February 2016]

Parents Phoebe (Mary McCormack) and Nate (Sam Rockwell) are sending their kids Samson and Delilah (Emma Roberts) off to school. The kids calmly wait and then get on the schoolbus. Phoebe is jittery and childlike with her big pigtails. She gets on a pogo stick flying high as she watches the bus drive off. Nate grabs a forgotten notebook and runs to catch up to the bus. The camera pulls back from the isolated farmhouse to see it on an alien planet in a duo sun solar system.

McCormack and Rockwell are great character actors and there's a super young Emma Roberts in her first role. That's something interesting and worthwhile to see. The story could be more compelling even considering its 10 minutes running time. If the big reveal is that they're on an alien planet, the quirky strange occurrences should point to that direction. I don't know why Phoebe is acting that way and being on an alien planet doesn't explain it. It would help to tie Phoebe's behavior to the final reveal better.

I loved this short and Leif's directorial skills bring it to life beautifully

[Kerdavid · 10/10 · 22 July 2001]

I was spellbound by Leif's short "Big Love". It begins innocently enough and yet strangely you know there's something a little off kilter about it! Although immediately drawn to this "suburban" family, you wonder how two kids going off to school one seemingly normal morning is going to make for a story......but soon enough we are involved in this role reversal dramedy where mum and dad struggle with their anxiety over the kids leaving each morning. Neurosis and a little touch of magic make for a beautiful, interesting, funny and intelligent fairytale. The kids are wonderful, as are Sam Rockwell and Mary McCormick.

Leif Tilden is to be watched!

Big Love - small movie

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 31 August 2017]

"Big Love" is an award-winning live action short film from 2001, so this one is already over 15 years old. It was written and directed by Leif Tilden, usually an actor too, and thanks to the cast here it is maybe his most known work. Yep this American English-language movie has two very familiar faces in it that give the film a great deal of attention still today years after it came out. These would be the young Sam Rockwell and the very young Emma Roberts. But really fans of these two should be the only ones checking this film out because honestly I found it quite forgettable and the story is not even enough for these 8-9 minutes I would say. It's the dream of every kid who hates school. The parents don't want them to go because they love them so much. Oh well, the latter does not sound as if the kid would love it. Anyway, the kids here are role models and won't profit from this situation. So they go to school and the parents are glad they at least still have each other. And well, the kids will be back in the afternoon. A film full of love and harmony, almost too much already. But I guess sometimes we need that too. I stile give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.