Captain Fantastic is summer 2016’s third wonderful indie flick. Viggo Mortensen stars as Ben Cash, a father of six raising his uniquely named children in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. Rather than go to school, he quizzes them on literary classics after days spent in arduous physical training. When Ben’s sick wife, Leslie, dies, the entire gang risks everything to travel to New Mexico for her funeral. Ben’s parenting techniques do not exactly jibe with Leslie’s parents (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd) or the police. No school plus lots of unexplainable cuts, bruises and breaks will do that.
Sharp performances by Mortensen and the cadre of young actors (George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell) playing the Cash children ground a comic family drama that could easily stray into touchy-feely indieville. Writer-director Matt Ross—like me, you probably know him better as Alby Grant of “Big Love” or Gavin Belson of “Silicon Valley”—deservedly won the Directing Prize of Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Captain Fantastic should please those mature filmgoers put off by the chilly Lobster and the flatulent Swiss Army Man.
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