Synopsis
Three years after his wife, acclaimed photographer Isabelle Reed, dies in a car crash, Gene keeps everyday life going with his shy teenage son, Conrad. A planned exhibition of Isabelle’s photographs prompts Gene's older son, Jonah, to return to the house he grew up in - and for the first time in a very long time, the father and the two brothers are living under the same roof.
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Cast
- Gabriel ByrneGene Reed
- Isabelle HuppertIsabelle Reed
- Jesse EisenbergJonah Reed
- Devin DruidConrad Reed
- Amy RyanHannah Brennan
- Ruby JerinsMelanie
- Megan KetchAmy Reed
- David StrathairnRichard Weissman
- Rachel BrosnahanErin
- Russell PosnerKenneth
Recommendations
- 91
The Playlist
Trier’s sensibility for the dynamics of family, for the depiction of nebulous memory, and for the detail of life (the film’s full of beautiful, complex scenes), means that I’m already eager to take a second look and see what else there is to unpack. - 90
Screen Daily
Richly detailed, sensitively played and cleverly mounted. - 83
IndieWire
An alternately wise, melancholic and good-humored look at people surrounded by support but nonetheless alienated by their incapacity to confront their problems. - 75
Slant Magazine
Louder Than Bombs is a parable that takes depression seriously as a condition and a state of being. - 70
Variety
Strangely, Louder Than Bombs manages to be glaringly obvious and admirably subtle in the same breath. - 67
Hitfix
Trier is far too talented for there not to be some good things here, but it just doesn’t add up to much. - 60
CineVue
As the family resolves problems of the film's own making, the satisfaction gleaned is relatively minor. The threatened and/or promised explosions fizzle out frustratingly, leaving behind the lurking impression of Louder Than Bombs as a well-crafted, well-played, slickly-written misfire. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
While it's well acted and has strong moments on a scene-by-scene basis, the film lacks an emotional center, keeping the impact cool and diffuse where it should be affecting.
