Female Film Critics 24/375
Feminine energy and motherhood seep out of Cuckoo. It’s the driving themes of the story and anyone familiar with how select types of female cuckoo birds lay their eggs in the nest of other unsuspecting birds, will put the pieces of Singer’s jumbled puzzle together quickly. No matter if you see the climax coming from a mile away, the film remains one to watch thanks to Hunter Schafer.
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Sam is hurting, still grieving the fairly recent death of his mother and angry at his father, Robert , for not finding a way to bridge the ensuing distance between them. In fact, Robert has packed Sam off to boarding school — and now expects Sam to spend his holidays helping care for his grandmother, Ruth, a former globe-trotting photo journalist who now needs somewhere to stay after suffering a particularly nasty broken leg. Not only is Ruth distant and irascible, but she’s also an alcoholic who literally hurls a glass at Sam when he dares to water down her drink. Charlotte Rampling is brilliant in the role.
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Charlotte Rampling steals the show as a feisty alcoholic grandmother in the New Zealand cross-generations family drama Juniper. She is a joy to watch in this little drama, and although the ending is a bit too neat in director Matthew Saville’s semi-biographical film, Rampling shines like the sun from start to finish.
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