Kramer Vs. Kramer Bilingual [Blu-ray]: Amazon.ca: Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Dustin Hoffman, JoBeth Williams, Justin Henry, Howard Duff, George Coe, Robert Benton, Stanley R. Jaffe, Columbia Pictures Corporation: DVD

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5.0 out of 5 stars A very special film, even 30+ years later, Jan 28 2012

By

K. Gordon - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Kramer Vs. Kramer Bilingual [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

A wonderful, beautifully acted film about the meanings of love,
friendship, and above all parenthood. This is the film where Robert
Benton's complex humanism really comes to full flower.

In a situation that almost demands taking sides ' a sudden divorce
leading to an unprepared father taking over childcare only to be
challenged for custody when the mother returns 18 months later ' Benton
manages to make everyone a complex human being, with strengths and
weaknesses, trying their best to do the right thing in a painful, messy
situation.

Hoffman, who has been brilliant so many times playing characters far
from himself is perhaps the most moving he's ever been playing a
character that director Benton described as really, honestly playing
himself ' perhaps the hardest character of all. Streep takes a woman
who could have easily come off as the villain of the piece, and makes
you understand her actions - - even abandoning her little boy. Jane
Alexander is wonderful and subtle as the slowly developing friend
Hoffman makes as a single father, and young Justin Henry is utterly
real in a way few child actors are as the 7 year old stuck in the
middle. It's also beautifully, if understatedly shot by Nestor
Almendros.

It's flaws are minor. Some of the supporting roles, while played by
terrific character actors, are a bit more one note and characturish
than they need be. And some of the courtroom theatrics feel just a tiny
bit' well, theatrical. Also, there's a logic point that's always bugged
me ' why doesn't Hoffman ' doing quite well on Madison Avenue, hire a
part-time housekeeper or nanny to help him from becoming terminally
overloaded by the combination of career and single parenthood? Last
family politics have changed enough in 31 years that no longer would
the climactic court fight stack up quite the same way ' it's no longer
a rarity for a man to want custody of his children - but that's not a
flaw in the film, just a welcome reminder that some things do get
better.

And none of the above are enough to detract from the fact that this is
storytelling and acting of the highest order.

The blu-ray is a nice upgrade from the old DVDs (which were fine)
in both sound and image. The subtly richer and more textural
feel to the film does add something worthwhile. Perhaps its a
greater sense of immediacy.

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