Now on DVD: The Glass Castle

Dysfunction & Dreams Reign in The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is an adaptation of Jeannette Wall’s 2005 memoir of the same name. With it’s fanciful and almost fairytale title it conjures up images of a sparkly and feel-good story. Instead it’s the story of a dysfunctional family that’s rife with neglect and instability. But don’t rush to grab the tissues. While this does contain emotionally heavy material it’s not exactly a full fledged tear-jerker.

The film follows young Jeannette (Ella Anderson) and her four siblings unusual upbringing. Rex (Woody Harrelson)  and his wife Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) are rootless, drifter types, and never are content to stay in one place for long. With a nose for trouble, and a gambling and drinking problem, Rex often gets in trouble with the law, and has to make his family skedaddle time and time again. His personality fluctuates between a manically happy man with a huge imagination, and big dreams, to a man who’s entirely self-absorbed and unaware of his children’s wants and needs. A man who’d rather spend his nights gambling away the pennies he has at pool halls or getting slammed at bars. The children’s hippie artist mother, Rose Mary is constantly dabbing away at her easel and paintings, grandly talking about how she’ll make it, but she hardly has the knack for making masterpieces. Instead she’s a dreamer full of nothing but wants with no real drive or desire to take action. The neglect and inattentiveness she gives off to her children surrounds her like noxious cloud of perfume, obscuring the realities of the world and motherhood from her.

The couple’s four children are often left to fend for themselves in impoverished situation after situation. The eldest is Lori (Sadie Sink), a bookish girl who quietly plans her escape from the chaotic life of the Walls family. The second eldest and our main protagonist is Jeanette-- a cheerful girl who is her father’s best (and only) friend and the one who believes in him time and time again. Then there’s younger brother Brian (Charlie Shotwell), who often gets roped into Rex’s schemes and hustles, and little sister Maureen (Shree Crooks) who’s the baby of the family with an angelic face to boot. This red-haired brood may not have solid father and mother figures but they’re thick as thieves and always have each others backs. This sibling solidarity is seen in the middle of the movie where the kids move in with Rex’s mother-- their grandmother Erma (Robin Bartlett) who is anything but grandmotherly to them. She’s a callous woman who doesn’t just verbally abuse her grandkids, but it turns out from the discovery of Rex’s journal, she physically abused Rex and even molested him. Her incestuous inclinations are revived when Brian moves in, and his sisters instantly spring up to shield him from their grandmother’s predatory ways.

The Glass Castle follows the gist of the narrative in the novel-- but the transitions which were done with more of a careful hand in writing don’t translate as seamlessly to the screen. The story ping-pongs back and forth from past to present, to earlier past, to later present, to recent past, to… ahhh you get it. There’s a lot of time jumps. The Glass Castle bounces us around, but never uses any time cues aside from the one in the opening scene. It’s so hard to pick out what year it is, and to have a sense of place in terms of where the heck we are in the kids time lines. Adult Jeannette (Brie Larson) has most of the screen time, along with her younger self as played by Ella Anderson, but it’s kinda confusing to see where exactly we are with Jeannette and her journey. We get the general picture of what’s going on-- we see her living her polished and professional adult life, and with what from all appearances is a picture perfect marriage-- but we see that facade soon begin to splinter. However, there’s not a whole lot of context to explain Jeannette’s unhappiness with her hubby, and it feels a touch random. How long have they even been together? Time just isn’t addressed enough for this to be as moving as it could be.

There’s no doubt that this true story has been Hollywoodized. Some liberties have been taken to amp up the drama -- but hey it’s a movie, movies cater to certain audiences-- but it’s also at times, a bit too shiny for its own good. One of the most noticeable is that the children, very convincing and impressive young actors as they are, always look far too clean and composed. We don’t see them dumpster diving, with greasy or matted hair, or wearing grimy, filthy clothing. It’s kind of startling to see just how together they are physically, when in the novel --and even parts of the movie-- we see they’re living like nomads -- crashing in the desert at one time, squatting in abandoned buildings, and moving to homes without water or electricity. In this it’s more like their homes are a little dumpy and run down, but nothing too gross or inhospitable. Yes, they crash in some dusty, rural and impoverished communities, and the camera work makes this obvious, but we aren’t as fully immersed in it as we could be. There are some missed opportunities here, and a sense of holding back. As if the director and filmmakers wanted to show us these hardships, but not push us too far...as if they were cringing away from showing us that full extent of it, and amping up our discomfort.

The Glass Castle doesn’t try to be a feel-good movie, and it doesn’t try to peddle us a happy ending. In that way, the film is true to the roots of the book. Even if the storyline does occasionally compromise and play it safe, the performances from the adults and children who play the Walls clan don’t waver. The young talents have a bond together that reflects that of the book. In terms of the parents, makeup, camera work and other movie magic transforms 56 year-old Harrelson as Rex into a man who looks to be at least a decade younger. And while his drunkard role isn’t a far cry from the washed up mentor Haymitch in The Hunger Games films, he does bring a touch of heart to the role. There’s something very deeply human about the entirely of The Glass Castle. It’s a story that’s not just a work of fiction, it’s a story of real people, with real feelings, hopes, wants and flaws.

Photos from IMDB.