David Giannini

All of the time, critics (or just plain old movie fans) will tell you that a movie is “important” or “required viewing.” And 99% of the time, they are full of it. Almost no movie is important enough that every person should stop whatever they are doing and watch it. Plus, anyone who tells you that a certain film is required probably has some skin in the game, somehow. But that being said, film is still art and can have an enormous impact.

Family is everything. But what family actually is gets left up to the individual. For people with difficult families of origin, the idea of family can be a struggle, and we may even want to change what that looks like. Luckily, humans have the capacity for deep empathy and changing definitions. Some of us find our chosen families as adults, others in adolescence. But none of this changes that these people are family.

Some viewers have hard lines in what they are watching. For some, it is not wanting to see animals (especially dogs) be injured or die. For others, they do not wish to see children in danger (You can thank Gene Siskel for that one). But likely, some of the reasoning is the same. Namely, it can feel cheap and overused. Movies are all manipulation, but it becomes an annoyance when you can feel the hand of the creators telling you what you should feel.