New in Theaters:
The Forgiveness of Blood
Most teenagers assume that their life is inherently unfair: those chores are too much given the meagre allowance, their parents always take their siblings’ sides in arguments, and so on. In the case of Nik, an Albanian teen who’s confined to the house after his father either sparks or gets swept up in a bloodfeud with a nearby family, he may actually have a case for life treating him unfairly. Not that filmmaker Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) turns this astutely calibrated, quietly wrenching drama into any kind of moping lament for Nik’s situation. Instead, Marston’s wide-angle take on Nik’s predicament gives his choppy frustrations that much more heft — he might be angry like a child, but no more so than the supposed adults who surround him…
The Forgiveness of Blood is playing now in limited release, make a point of seeking it out. You can read my full review at filmcritic.com.
Chris Barsanti 