History of Violence, A


Rating = B

Usually I don't report on movies I saw on DVD or cable (and mostly I don't watch them using these media). However, we watched A History of Violence on hotel-pay-per-view specifically as catch up after having been unable to get to a real theater to see it. Thus, I'm counting it in this list, although the poor viewing experience of the small screen may have dropped my rating from a B+ to a B.

The movie presents a rather simple story, but presents it well. The acting is uniformly good. It is nominally the story of a man hiding from his past and then being sucked up in his past and having to deal with it. However, I saw it substantially as the story of the man's wife and children who are shocked to discover he is much more than the husband and father they knew, and each must intuit what their relationship with him will be going forward.

[2006-01-06]