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[tab title="Movie Review"]
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Redefining the slow burn, Los Angeles-filmmaker Blake Robbins takes audiences on a heart-wrenching journey through loss and grief as one family struggles after the death of their three children and the results are stunningly authentic. Robbins - who directs, produces, writes and also stars in The Sublime and Beautiful – presents his feature film debut with an honesty that is as intense and tragic as it is captivating. The independent film received its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival last year in Park City, Utah and has been slowly building a name for itself with nominations and awards around the country.
Professor David Conrad (Robbins), wife Kelly (Laura Kirk) and their three kids (played by Robbins’ own offspring) are a relatively happy family. Living in the northeastern part of Kansas, they have a firmly established routine. What happens to the family is something that no one can ever plan. Conrad’s wife is wounded and his three children are killed returning from a Christmas tree-trimming trip to his parents’ house - an evening outing from which he excused himself in order to meet with his teaching assistant and part-time lover (Anastasia Baranova) in a coffee bar where she sings.
After a very public confrontation in a hospital where it is discovered the drunk driver (Armin Shimerman) who slammed into his family is alive and just down the hall from his wife, Conrad is led to the bodies of his lifeless children. It is a commanding scene thick with sorrow. There will be dark days ahead for the surviving members of the Conrad family. Days full of memories and struggle as Conrad – who now knows the name and address of the killer of his family – and his wife deal with what remains of their former life.
The material in The Sublime and Beautiful is very personal to Robbins, who spent over six years on the script, and it shows in its realism. Both Kelly and David are at a loss with what to do next. Both go through their lives without much support from the other but - after a very real and very disturbing meltdown at a Christmas party from Kelly – it is more than obvious that their marriage will never be the same again. David struggles to keep himself from cracking, too. He is the walking wounded and his own grief has him considering tremendous extremes with a sawed-off shotgun as he haunts the heartland.
Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas and bathed in the beauty of the area’s natural light, The Sublime and Beautiful is as justly titled as it is ambiguous. Because the film is a character study for Robbins, much has to be read in-between the lines of what’s being said. This is an experience that transcends the common. We have to assume much because the only absolute are three dead children but, going with the dower tone established in the wake of that calamity, that’s the easy part. There is no reprieve and Robbins sinks us lower and lower into the muck as David starts driving by the drunk driver’s house on a daily basis, lamenting the life he once knew.
The film is centered on the tight-lipped performance of Robbins as his character descends into alcoholism and depression, yet it is the stinging performance from Kirk as his wife that harvests the best of the crop. Just when we find ourselves accustom to Robbins, she jerks us to attention with an outburst as passionate and genuine as they come. No longer content being just the quiet wife receiving condolences, she explodes. It is a tense scene during a university Christmas party full of platitudes, gossip and a husband who can’t deal with himself. Kirk nails every bit of Kelly’s grief and it renders everyone in the room – including the audience – silent.
The nuanced locations of the northeastern Kansas shoot, selected by location manager Christie Dobson (Earthwork) and shot by cinematographer Lyn Moncrief (Orion), are as textured and necessary as the performances. From hospital interiors to local restaurants in the area, the voice of The Sublime and Beautiful hinges on its own believability and the filmmakers go out of their way to make it all so incredibly real and lovely and affecting.
The Sublime and Beautiful is every bit as rewarding as its philosophical title suggests. You just have to possess a heart earnest enough to hear its redemption song. Immanuel Kant would be proud.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: This film has not been rated.
Runtime: 93 mins
Director: Blake Robbins
Writer: Blake Robbins
Cast: Blake Robbins, Laura Kirk, Matthew Del Negro
Genre: Drama
Tagline: The Sublime and Beautiful.
Memorable Movie Quote: "It's too dangerous to just have one."
Distributor: Candy Factory
Official Site: http://www.thesublimemovie.com/
Release Date: No theatrical release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: No details available
Synopsis: After losing their children to a drunk driver, David and Kelly descend into a dark and twisted spiral of grief, taking very different paths to make things right.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
No details available.
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[tab title="Trailer"]
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