Much like Beautiful Boy this film deals with the brutal effects of drug addiction on family life. The former reveals itself lyrically, moving me to tears almost instantly and unrelenting throughout its duration, crafting a warm and emotional tapestry of pain and love that transcends its senses of place and time. It's the kind of film that is so necessary and timely -- and thoughtfully constructed -- that it becomes important, which is far more powerful than any discussion of "good" or even entertaining. Ben is Back is no less stunning, beautiful, moving, or important, but it differs in some really interesting ways.
Rolling up her driveway on Christmas Eve, Holly sees her son Ben waiting for them in the cold. Though she tells her younger children to stay put with fear in her voice, we clearly see the joy as she approaches him and embraces her son. We quickly learn the context: Ben has been in rehab for drug addiction (and, it seems, several crimes that are unmentioned) for some time and should not have been released yet. He tries to assure his mother and stepfather that his sponsor encouraged him to be home for Christmas. After all, family always brings out the best in us during the holidays. Right?
And this is where Lucas Hedges shines. As an actor, he's proven adept -- to a brilliant degree -- at playing the misunderstood lone wolf who hides his sensitivity beneath a veneer of earnest curiosity and mild-mannered strength. While his acting chops have not always risen to the occasion (Boy Erased), his personality on screen seems to be more effective than not in the roles he takes on. Here, he is pitch perfect as the guilt-ridden son who is maybe and probably still an addict. He gives us (helped by a damn rich screenplay) moments of doubt and fear and anger that made me constantly wonder if he was still using or not; his gift is that he never lets us not love him. We never want him to fail in his efforts, and by the end, Ben is our hero as much as he is his mother's.
And what a mother. Julia Roberts can do no wrong, and here she delves deep into troubled motherhood (she knew all about it in August: Osage County, but from the receiving end). Her haunted visage is forced not only to confront the horrors of knowing and not knowing her son, but also of navigating her strained family. Courtney B. Vance plays her new husband, skeptical of Ben's sincerity and overprotective of the family he's cultivated; Kathryn Newton plays Ben's sister, apparently fighting between reconnecting with her brother and maintaining the role of more-or-less perfect daughter. These fine folks are even more strained by the stress brought on by the holidays and their forced public appearances at church and the mall. It's a small town. Everyone knows everything, and the stares and whispers are only so tolerable.
What surprised me with this film, though, that sets it apart from others in its genre is that it becomes almost completely plot-driven in the second half. We almost don't care any more whether or not Ben has licked his addiction. Once their house is broken into and their dog abducted, Ben and Holly go on an adventure through the nighttime criminality of their Christmas-lit town. The camera is often a little too clear and flat; I wonder how much might have been filmed with a low-budget device or even smart devices, as the visuals often reminded me of Unsane. The seedy approach makes the film compelling if exploitative, and though the ending is arguably unrealistic -- exceeding the film's sense of stark reality -- Ben is Back boasts the rare ability to be at once entertaining and challenging.
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