‘What does an investment banker use as birth control? His personality...’
Destin Daniel Cretton has quietly become one of the most consistent directors in Hollywood. Short Term 12 is an underrated gem that helped to launch the career of Brie Larson, Just Mercy is a hugely watchable court drama that saw Cretton pivot into something he hadn’t explored before and with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings he even managed to make a Marvel film that doesn’t feel like every other Marvel film. No mean feat. It between all of these projects, Cretton dropped The Glass Castle, and while it is certainly similar to many other films about dysfunctional families, it is still beautifully rendered…
Rex (Woody Harrelson) is the patriarch of a nonconformist nomadic family who ostensibly live in a cabin in the woods. Despite the best efforts of Rex’s wife Rose Mary (Naomi Watts), Rex’s alcohol problem eventually consumes the whole family and himself. Whilst Harrelson and Watts are aged or de-aged in relation to where we are in the family timeline, the various children are portrayed by different actors depending on their age. Jeannette is primarily portrayed by Brie Larson but also by both Chandler Head and Ella Anderson and that leaves Lori (Sarah Snook), Brian (Josh Caras) and Maureen (Brigette Lundy-Paine). An impressive cast then that also includes Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink and New Girl‘s Max Greenfield.
The idea of an unconventional family living off the land has been done to death of course, most notably in Captain Fantastic and Leave No Trace. The wild card here is Rex’s addiction and this adds an extra layer of both nuance and chaos to the whole thing. While the aforementioned movies have a tendency to glamourise a more rustic lifestyle, The Glass Castle presents us with a much more realistic rendering of what living off grid would actually look like. It helps that Cretton has assembled a wonderful cast with Larson and particularly Harrelson excellent throughout, whilst Watts is typically considered in a role that demands her to be both compliant and feisty – often within the same scene.
Based on the real life upbringing of gossip columnist Jeannette Wells, The Glass Castle is a lovely movie. Moving, captivating and unique. And it offers further proof that Destin Daniel Cretton is one of the most interesting filmmakers working in Hollywood today.