Kodachrome: Film Review

Kodachrome: Film Review

Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen, Bruce Greenwood, Dennnis Haysbert
Director: Mark Raso

It may hit every branch of the predictable tree as it winds its way to its inevitably sappy and sentimental conclusion, but Kodachrome, as it heads on its hoary trope of road trip, gets by on an earnestness of portrayal and a script that's on-the-mark.

Sudeikis is Matt Ryder, a down on his luck A&R man, who's on the brink of being fired after his latest band signs to another rival label and his boss reveals he's kept him on at a loss for years.

When he finds a woman, Zoe (Avengers star Olsen) hanging out in his office with no clue why she's there, she reveals that his estranged photographer father Ben (Harris, in a raging against the dying of the light role) is on the brink of succumbing to cancer.

With one simple wish to transport some undeveloped films to Kansas in a road trip, and the possiblity of career salvation dangled before him, Matt decides to make the journey - no matter what demons are stirred up.

Kodachrome develops predictably as it ambles on its journey toward redemption, dealing with death and settling old scores.

Sudeikis plays it straight and forlorn as Ryder, showing once again that his everyman appeal and likeability can occasionally border on sleepwalking. But there's genuine warmth to parts of his portrayal as he tackles a venomous script which sees bitter barbs fired between him and Ben.

Harris is solid as well as Ben, the father who apparently never was, but whose heart obviously never strayed, even when other parts of his anatomy did. Reflective and mournful, bitter and resentful, Harris wraps his Ben up in all the elements and never once overplays the dramatic hand he's been dealt.

Olsen delivers a nuanced turn, even if the script treats her nurse Zoe a little shabbily.

Talking of which, it's the script from AG Sulzberger and Jonathan Tropper which has a veracity and reality to it that, apart from the necessary end, strays too far into sentimentality as it deals with the familial fallout.

While it does fall apart in the dying moments, as it collapses under the weight of its own inevitable sentimentality, Kodachrome becomes a case of a film being more about the journey than the destination.

Hazily filmed by Raso, the film may lacks surprises and a real bite, but what Kodachrome commits to the big screen, it makes memorable in a non-lingering way. The film's developed as much as its titular photographic process is, but it doesn't tender to linger on forever.

Ultimately, Kodachrome is a pleasant enough diversion, blessed by performances and veracity that bind all together - but don't be surprised if the inevitability of what transpires somehow inadvertently manages to cloud your overall judgement, like a badly developed Polaroid.