Four Good Days
VerticalAddiction on film, like in the real world, takes many forms. For Glenn Close and Mila Kunis, it takes the form of Four Good Days, a middling film that features good actors toy with tepid dialogue. That is no fault of their own and they are doing their best to make this rise, fall and rise again of the addiction cycle work, but they are only human. The happy, literally sunnier times of the past collide with the addiction of now. As if it were not obvious what Rodrigo García was trying to do in the directing chair, Four Good Days spells as much out for its audience as it can. Concerned parents played by stalwarts of the business guiding a daughter they do care for but struggle to feel all that infatuated with as she stutters through the usual spiel an addict would provide.
There is a fine line between Four Good Days’ awkward and emotional encounters and the real world. It never quite dips its toe into reality, all of it played up for the sake of the camera. A shame since the story behind Four Good Days is one that any audience member will at least know or have heard of. Not this particular instance, but of a person or family ruptured by addiction. Close is incredible in this, not because she has good dialogue or for her performance, but because of what she represents. That tear between tough love and genuine care for a daughter down the wrong path. Kunis does well to display that and Stephen Root is a solid rock of a supporting actor. They are all in the right place, say all the right things and act just as well as they possibly can, but it is to no avail when Four Good Days is spiralling into simplicity and complacency.
For all the shouting and swearing Kunis does, Four Good Days is an inescapably mediocre film. As good as the performances are, the writing is dull and the camera placement is uninspired. García has a stagnant project that relies far too heavily on those talents that carry it. It is a surprise the back of Close, Kunis, and Root are not broken after all the carrying they do here. For every scene of genuine emotion and integrity, there is another that turns the narrative on its head with an on-the-nose bash at drug dealers and the lower rim of society. It is surprisingly difficult to straddle the two. People have failed before García did. At least the chemistry between Close and Kunis can work around the weaker moments. It’s just a shame those weaker moments are the final leg of the film.
Beautiful Boy, but instead of Steve Carrell gunning for an Oscar nomination, it is Glenn Close once again. Where Four Good Days implements all the right build-up and applies its tension, it usually involves the efforts of the whole cast. They are not emotionally manipulative, which is refreshing to see. But they are not complete or elegant. They stutter along with relative competence but never abandon the good qualities Four Good Days can offer. It is a shame there is not more of Close dealing with the reactionary nature of a rehabilitated Kunis, but if there were, there would be twice as many scenes depicting droll and uneventful encounters with unrelated people from the past. Its utilisation makes sense, but for Four Good Days, it is a death knell for its pace.