Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America 2006    star_border 5.1
Three narratives ("Cutting Moments," "Home" and "Prologue") combine to create a shocking trilogy of modern American life, a portrait drawn with brushstrokes of hidden violence and disturbing cruelty. Directed by Douglas Buck, this unflinching film reveals what lies behind the drawn curtains of so-called "ordinary" households.

playlist_add

Prologue 2003    star_border 5.7
A young woman returns home one year after losing her hands in a savage attack. She cannot remember who her assailant was, but a trip to the local post office leads her towards the truth.

playlist_add

Home 1998    star_border 5.1
Acting as both pseudo-sequel to, and remake of, Cutting Moments, Buck's follow-up changes the focus from the matriarch to the father... or, more fittingly, the many fathers... and the sins they pass down. Eschews explicit violence for a more psychological approach, to a no less harrowing result.

playlist_add

Cutting Moments 1997    star_border 5.7
In the center of a monotonous suburban existence, Sarah lives silently and in subservience to her icy husband Patrick. They have been together far too long, and Patrick's affections for his wife have all but vanished. Instead, his sexual urges are tempting him to lust after their own son. Realizing how far gone her husband is, Sarah undertakes drastic, shockingly sickening measures to salvage some sense of her life and purge her years of festering resentment.

playlist_add

After All 1994
A darkly humorous black and white tale of a young boy, unable to fit in, finally realizing his calling while watching animals killing each other on nature documentaries. Raw non-sync early effort, interesting as an early and funny example of Buck's forays into continuing themes of painful isolation, suburban disassociation and the inherent violence that can follow.

playlist_add