A manic depressive of a film, reveling in the drunken joy but quickly switching to aching teary eyed melancholy...only to flip right back to something of gaiety and mirth. Whether that final turn worked for you, or brought the desired catharsis it seemed intended to, is debatable, but the class of Mikkelson is not. He is a stoic pillar in this and much of his career, which makes it even more amazing that he is able to spread those intense emotional fluctuations and gradiations with the twitch of his lips, the poise of his eyes, or minimal but significant emotional machinations of the rest of his physicality. He engendered broad toothy grins and aching teary moments with his talent.
His ups and downs are the soul of the film, and an overall pleasurable one it is. Yet to recognize the inherent somber dangers inherent in the search to recapture the magic of youth feels necessary, especially when the stakes are those of adults, not children. Dismaying and droll, depending on which side that bottle cap falls for you.
