Return

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  • Opened February 10, 2012 
  • 1 hr 37 min
  • NR
  • Back from a tour of duty, Kelli (Linda Cardellini) can't wait to rejoin her old life in the Rust Belt town she's always known. She's ready to experience the feelings of everyday life-the carpet under her bare feet, a cold beer in front of the television, the smell of her baby's head. But slowly, her world comes to feel unfamiliar. Her friends love her but seem preoccupied with trifles. Her children need more focused attention than she can give, and as much as he tries, her husband Mike (Michael Shannon) doesn't understand what she's been through. As Kelli's dislocation ripples through her world, she risks becoming an outsider. When she's thrown back on her own resources Kelli has to struggle to find a new way forward. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Linda Cardellini, Michael Shannon, John Slattery, Talia Balsam, Paul Sparks
  • Director: Liza Johnson
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Drama

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Critics say Go
63 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

Must Go!
Return

by dmcany

This is more than a war movie. It explores alienation is beautifully subtle and brilliant scenes. The cinematography, costuming, acting, character development are all spectacular. Don't miss it in...

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Critic Reviews

80
Time Out New York
| Joshua Rothkopf

Return is almost too underdramatized to seem like a piece of today's zoomy entertainment, but its anxieties-the bare cupboards, the vague sense of purposelessness-are at the heart of the American experience for many. It's what indie filmmaking ought to be. Read full review

70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
| David Edelstein

There are a couple of hundred instances in which Johnson or her actors could take condescending short cuts and slip into white-trash stereotypes, but I didn't see any - only gifted performers vanishing into their characters, refusing to pass judgment. Read full review

70
The New York Times
| Stephen Holden

In this stratum of Middle American society during wartime and hardship, the movie suggests, life is tough and challenging. You admire these characters for their considerable resilience while understanding that even the best-intentioned people can break under the stress. Read full review

70
Los Angeles Times
|

With its modest scale and sharp observations, writer-director Liza Johnson's first feature has the quiet impact of a short story. Read full review

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