Unless, adapted by director Alan Gilsenan from Carol Shields’ novel, doesn’t stand so much as slowly slide to the ground. In the opening scene, we meet Reta and Tom (Catherine Keener, Matt Craven) and their three school-age daughters: Christine, Natalie and Norah. About the only time she shows emotion is when Reta tries to physically coerce her to leave; that doesn’t go well. And while Unless manages a sustained elegiac tone, much of that doesn’t flow from the movie itself. Unless was Shields’ final novel before her death in 2003 from breast cancer.

Source: National Post October 14, 2016 17:26 UTC