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VOD Pick of the Week

The Broken Circle Breakdown
When you think Foreign Film Oscar nominee from Belgium, great American bluegrass music is probably not the first thing that comes to mind, but The Broken Circle Breakdown delivers the goods. The film tells the story of Elise and Didier. She owns her own tattoo shop while he is a bluegrass musician. They meet and fall in love at first sight, she joins the band, and they have a child. When their daughter becomes ill, it places an intense strain on their relationship, stemming largely from the fact that he is an anti-religion atheist, and while she may not be a devotee of organized religion, she certainly has a strong spiritual side.

The film is told non-chronologically with moments of high highs and low lows interspersed with musical interludes. The music functions much like the music in the Oscar-winning Once where the music informs the emotions and plot of the film, but because the characters are the musicians, the performances are organic. While the film could be classified as a musical, it’s not one where characters break out into song out of nowhere. The songs are powerful. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of bluegrass or anything close to knowledgeable about the genre, but the songs quickly cut to the soul. Even if you don’t see the movie, the soundtrack is worth a listen, but within context the songs are even elevated.

The genre that the film most falls into is the kitchen sink melodrama. Although there is a complete lack of camp that sometimes can characterize melodrama, the film does tend to repeatedly hit you with the big moments both uplifting and devastating. The effect of presenting them out of order adds to the impact of certain scenes where having seen the future can inform the underlying emotions of the present. It’s not as disjointed as something like 21 Grams and there is a stronger linear through line, allowing the scenes to be arranged skillfully and maximize their effect.

The Broken Circle Breakdown is almost a perfect film, but there is one misstep that comes across as jarring and does seem to break the flow of the movie. While not completely out of nowhere, the film takes a short detour into political issues and social commentary that doesn’t completely seem to fit with the rest of the movie. The film otherwise is so intensely personal and intimate that the foray into this territory, while not out of character, does distract.

That criticism is a minor quibble, however, in an outstanding film. The Broken Circle Breakdown is perhaps one of the bigger pleasant surprises in the Oscar nominations. Much criticism has been directed at the way the Oscars handled the Foreign Film category when certain “sure things” were ruled ineligible, were not selected to represent their country, or did not make the final cut. Those quirks may keep some notable films out of the nominations, but they also allow surprises like The Broken Circle Breakdown to break out. While unlikely to take home the big prize, the film deservingly garnered much more attention than it ever would have received otherwise. It’s a worthy film for your attention as well.

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Editor's note: if you have Amazon Prime, The Broken Circle Breakdown is available to stream for free. Use the above link for direct access.

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