Oliver Sherman (EIFF)
What is meant to be an affecting look at how the war returns soldiers damaged sadly underwhelms as it doesn’t have anything new to say on the matter simply resulting in a somewhat uncomfortable film to watch.
A lost in life veteran, Sherman Oliver (Garret Dillahunt) finds himself travelling from place to place with no real roots to settle and stay, he takes an unannounced trip and ends up at the house of a fellow veteran Franklin Page (Donal Logue), who as it turns out, saved Oliver’s life during their tour. Page is a settled family man in a settled family house with a wife and child, understanding the world through Oliver’s eyes convinces his wife to let him stay in their house until he finds himself orientated to go somewhere.
But Oliver does not leave any time soon even as boundaries are crossed and bad impressions are made, Oliver still manipulates Page’s sympathies for the man he once saved which causes friction in his marriage.
The ending of this film is drawn out in suspense making us question: why is Oliver acting so? When will Page listen to his wife? And although answered and concluded, for some reason does not completely satisfy.
To illustrate a point, the last scene of The Hurt Locker (Jeremy Renner looking at cereal) sums up what this film takes 82 to minutes to encapsulate. Saying that, it’s not a bad film, it just doesn’t speak for this time as well as it wanted to.