Starring: Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olsen, Bruce Greenwood, Wendy Crewson, Denis Haysbert, Gethin Anthony
Distributor: Icon Films
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2018
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There are many good reasons for seeing Kodachrome.
“Regrets, I’ve had a few…”, Frank Sinatra singing My Way. The central characters in this film have more than a few regrets and one of them has been causing regrets to the others by his selfish doing it his way.
For audiences who have admired Ed Harris over many decades, fine performances, this is a must. It is certainly one of his best performances. He plays Ben Ryder, crack photographer, now old and not long to live because of terminal cancer. In his photography, he used Kodachrome and finds that Parsons, Kansas, is the last centre to develop slides from Kodachrome and he wants to make a kind of pilgrimage there, taking some rolls from the past that he never developed. The question is, how is he to get to Kansas, by car, plane being out of the question.
But, first, we are introduced to his middle-aged son, an executive with a small recording company, caught up in the hullabaloo of concerts and records, not having been successful over several years and about to be fired – one last chance to sign on a leading group. He is Ben Ryder’s son, Matt. His played by Jason Sudeikis, very well known for a lot of comedy films, but this role offers a reassurance that he can tackle dramatic roles quite persuasively.
He gets a visit, unwelcome, from a young woman, Zoe – played by Elizabeth Olsen, quite a forceful dynamic presence on screen. She is Ben’s nurse and urges Matt to drive his father to Kansas, not a likely proposition because Matt resents his father’s ignoring of him in the past, his infidelities to his mother, and has not spoken to him for 10 years. We know that he eventually will drive his father but we are presented with a range of motivations for his doing so, including his father’s assistant enabling him to stop on the way to interview the prospective group that he would like to sign.
The characters are particularly well drawn, Ed Harris is the embodiment of the narcissistic and neglectful father. For most of the film he seems to show no redeeming features but, towards the end, there is a frank conversation with his son and quite a moving scene where he meets veteran photographers at Parsons and they acclaim him, Matt looking on with some satisfaction.
There is a lot of incidental action along the way, showing some relenting on Matt’s part, Zoe and her putting up with a great deal from Ben, then Ben advising his son on how to deal with the group but, in another striking sequence, Matt uses his father’s advice to get the group but they then mock Ben’s incontinence in a stupid adolescent way and Ben defends his father.
This is one of the most persuasive father-son dramas, not an easy getting to know each other, especially after a significant visit to Ben’s brother, Dean and his wife (good cameos from Bruce Greenwood and Wendy Crewson), Matt grateful to Dean for being more of a father to him than his own father.
While there is a lot of bitterness, this is certainly a powerful film about regrets and, it will not be a surprise to find out what is on those previously undeveloped slides. In some ways, the ending is clear, but communicated to the audience with a blend of emotion and objectivity.
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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