Louder than Bombs is a frustrating movie because it's so beautifully edited and directed but everything about it just falls flat. The film is about the Reeds, a family made up of a father and his two sons, one an adult starting his own family, the other a teen, who are all coping with the loss of the mother of the family Isabelle, a war photographer who died 4 years earlier. The events in the film are triggered because a retrospective of Isabelle's work is being put on and a friend and journalist writing an article regarding her life warns Isabelle's widow that he plans to be "honest" about the way she died implying that the car crash she died in might not have been accidental after all. The rest of the film follows these three men as they stumble around their lives, reminiscing about the Isabelle they knew and didn't know and struggling to move forward. It's a very watchable film, but it's also somehow not enough. The struggles of the film feel self-indulgent and it's one of those films where women exist only to be lusted over or listen sympathetically to the men as they talk about their problems and throw tantrums. Even legendary actress Isabelle Huppert, as the ghost that haunts the family, doesn't get much to chew on. The worst part is that it's a movie that isn't easy to write off entirely. The youngest son is a bit of a writer and the way his text is layered over with images leads to some beautiful editing and some true movie magic. It's just a shame that these great moments don't quite live up to what they could have been if they had had strong emotion to back them up.

Being a photographer, and having huge respect for photojournalism (and good movie's about photojournalists such as "The Bang Bang Club" - must watch it!) I felt somewhat inclined to watch this movie when coming across it by chance. Although the movie speaks little of photojournalism, what is said regarding the mothers job as a photojournalist is in my opinion, quite profound. What I think the movie is really about, in broad terms, is about family relationships and dealing with issues as time passes and things change within a family, and I think the way that this theme is conducted throughout is natural and relatable. I also really enjoyed the cinematography and thought the movie was shot very well, again with a very natural feel to it, although the style of the movie is not extremely unique (not necessarily a bad thing just a comment) Overall I think it was a great film, and would like to see what else this director has been involved in!

Families in crisis. Movies which explore that topic can be difficult to watch, but can also reaffirm what is important about family and suggest how we and our loved ones might move forward when confronted with difficult times. Of course, there are many different kinds of crises that can be portrayed on film. Some of these family dramas revolve around the death of a family member (e.g., Best Picture Oscar Winners "Ordinary People" and "Terms of Endearment", plus "A Cry in the Dark", "Steel Magnolias", "The Descendants", "Still Alice"). Other times we see families battling an existential threat ("The Impossible", "San Andreas", "No Escape"). Often the family crisis doesn't have to do with anybody dying, but with the family unit splitting apart due to issues like divorce (Best Picture Oscar Winner "Kramer vs. Kramer", "The War of the Roses", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Liar, Liar"), crime ("The Godfather", "Raising Arizona", "Running on Empty", "Falling Down", "Road to Perdition") or just because they forgot what it means to be a family ("The Story of Us", "American Beauty", "Winter's Bone"). The drama "Louder than Bombs"(R, 1:49) has things in common with several of the films mentioned above.Noted war photographer Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert) died near her New York home when the car she was driving collided head-on with an 18-wheeler. A few years later, her widowed husband, high school teacher Gene Reed (Gabriel Byrne), and his sons, teenager Conrad (Devin Druid) and college professor Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) are still struggling to move on from Isabelle's death. Gene is in his first post-Isabelle romantic relationship with a fellow teacher named Hannah (Amy Ryan), while working hard to connect emotionally with Conrad, who has become very surly and emotionally withdrawn (even for a teenager). Jonah lives out of state where his wife has just had their first child, but he comes home for an extended visit to help his dad finally sort through Isabelle's things in her photographic dark room.A museum is planning a retrospective of Isabelle's work and a family friend (David Strathairn) who works at the museum, is writing an article for the New York Times to promote the exhibit, all of which forces the Reeds to relive their memories of Isabelle and her tragic death. As we see flashbacks of Isabelle's life and relationship with her family, tensions rise among the three Reed men in the present. Conrad clearly still has unprocessed feelings regarding his mother and there's something about his mother's death that his father has never told him. As Gene struggles with that secret and with his inability to talk to his younger son, he is trying to keep his romance with Hannah a secret… and also learns about some things that his deceased wife had kept secret from him. Like his father, Jonah also learns some surprising things about his mother, struggles with his feelings and the secrets he is keeping, does his best to reach out to Conrad (a little more successfully than his father), and he secretly gets involved with a local woman."Louder than Bombs" is depressing and unsatisfying. In tone, it's like "Ordinary People" (but not as touching), in content, it resembles "The Descendants" (but not as entertaining) and in its storytelling, it reminds me of "Knight of Cups" (but not as creative). What we have here is a story filled with unlikeable characters who have very little personality, cavalierly lie and commit other indiscretions and seem unable or unwilling to look beyond their own self-interest. The lessons about family bonds are only faintly sketched and even the title has very little meaning. "D+"

Most coming-of-age films lean on the romantic comedy or melodrama for shape and structure, usually with a linear storyline that leads to a metaphorical awakening or some other resolution. As you might expect from a Norwegian director, Louder than Bombs (2015) avoids this well-trodden approach by telling a multi-layered fractured tale that looks more like a thriller than a teen-drama. Adolescents who clam-up tightly to exclude the world while they catch up with its emotional challenges are common stories. The one in this film is like a bomb about to explode and his story forms the narrative spine along which several sub-plots radiate in all directions.Conrad is an introspective young war-gamer who has closed off to the world since his famous war photographer mother Isabelle was killed three years ago. He keeps to himself at school and defiantly ignores his well-meaning ex-TV star father. A photo exhibition is planned to commemorate Isabelle's work and a former colleague plans an article that will reveal the secret truth of Isabelle's suicide. Conrad has been shielded from this truth, as well as from the affairs of his father and brother. Over-protection has increasingly isolated him until he tries to connect with a girl in class. It's a complex non-liner plot line with several flashbacks that shift across narrative lines to create the visual effect of a perfect storm of fractured people. Isabelle's war images and her memory keep appearing but the battle we are seeing is raging in the minds of those she left behind who struggle to move on with their lives.The film has an unsettling asymmetrical style about it. You find it in the withholding of truths, in the gender inversion of a war zone mother and a TV soapies father, and in hair-trigger Conrad lashing out in all directions. While the acting is often melodramatic, the filming is edgy with sharp editing cuts and sudden discordant images that feel out of context (like tumbling aerial schoolgirls). It has an uneven but reflective pace that disorients the viewer and leaves them uncertain how the story can hold together. But through the foggy mess of their lives appears hope for better times. More art-house than spoon-fed, the film feels refreshingly free of clichés and leaves you thinking about the impact of distant memories on daily lives.