Our Souls at Night (2017)

Millions of Americans watched Our Souls at Night on September 29th, the Netflix release date of their original film that reunited Robert Redford and Jane Fonda for the first time since 1979's The Electric Horseman. I'm happy to say I was one of them, and I wasn't disappointed!

Robert Redford is a lonely widower, and his neighbor Jane Fonda is a lonely widow. After dinner one night, Jane knocks on his door and propositions him. "Would you be interested in coming to my house some nights and sleeping with me?" she asks. She explains her reasoning: they're both lonely, and she thinks it would be easier to get through the night if there was someone beside her to talk to. Her intentions are entirely honorable, and when Bob agrees, they strike up a friendship that just might lead to more.

This movie is so cute! They put a long gray wig on Jane to frump her up a bit, but she's still beautiful and vibrant, and Bob is as handsome and sweet as he was decades ago. When you watch the movie, it doesn't feel like you're watching a 79-year-old and an 81-year-old. They've both aged so well; it feels like a love story between two folks in their late-sixties.

The plot is pretty simple, but it doesn't have to be complicated. We're watching it for the eye candy of Bob and Jane! With her gray Gibson bun, Jane seemed to channel Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond, and I found myself hoping that Hollywood would remake the classic film with Jane in the lead. She could reunite with costar Bruce Dern from Coming Home, who's also in Our Souls at Night, and Laura Dern could play the daughter. Everyone would go see it! If the Derns were unavailable, the story could be tweaked to widower and his sister, rather than husband and wife, and Peter Fonda could join Jane in the lead role. Bridget Fonda could come out of retirement and round out the cast—there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house! But enough of my On Golden Pond fantasy. Go watch Our Souls at Night, exclusively on Netflix, and fall in love with Bob and Jane all over again. It's truly charming, and it makes for a very sweet and fun evening.

Fmovies: The last time Robert Redford and Jane Fonda starred together in a movie, The Electric Horseman, I was only a kid but I knew both actors were big film stars.

Now in the twilight of their career Redford and Fonda come together in the screen once more in Our Souls at Night and you can sense that these two people are comfortable with each other, after all this is the fourth film they have made together.

This is a low key, no frills film set in a small Colorado town. Fonda plays Addie Moore, a widow who just wants companionship especially at night. One night she knocks on Louis Waters (Redford) door and makes a proposition that they just share a bed together but nothing sexual. Waters is also widowed and lonely. Although both have lived near each other for years the families were never close and he considers her proposal and takes her up on it.

Louis is worried about small time gossip which is led by his friends in the coffee shop, Dorlan (Bruce Dern) teases him which makes Lois feel uncomfortable.

As the film progresses so does their relationship and the backstory. Addie lost a child to a hit and run accident. Louis meanwhile had cheated on his wife, the infidelity caused ructions in his relationship with his family.

When Addie's grown up son Gene (Matthias Schoenaerts) has marital and business issues, he drops off his son Jamie (Iain Armitage) to stay with her for a short while. This is the catalyst that brings both Louis and Addie closer, although Gene makes his dislike of Louis very clear.

This is a simple albeit a slow autumnal drama with no histrionics. Director Ritesh Batra knows that he just needs his legendary actors to light up the screen. The Belgian actor Schoenaerts feels miscast, Dern is a hoot in his cameo as the chief gossip and Armitage shows what a rising talent he is as Fonda's grandson.

This movie restored my faith in Hollywood's understanding of the joy of human love and the importance of investing one's whole soul into the care and keeping of those we hold dear. If you enjoy films that feature creative sensitivity to everyday feelings that are the stuff life is made of, then this is your kind of film. The cinematography is stunning, featuring French and Japanese filmmaking sensibilities with an American flavor. It was quietly majestic and I loved it. Thank you to the creators of this beautifully written, acted, directed, filmed, produced, scored and edited film. It left me better than it found me, and I am grateful. More, please...

Our Souls at Night fmovies. Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are perfect for their lonely and flawed characters. What a sweet unfolding of two complex lives that crave connection and love. It begins simply with wanting to simply sleep through the night and then we get to know all the good and the hard parts of their lives and in the end it is about talking to each other.

There is a bit of all of us in these characters.

I watched this movie in MAMI, year round program film screening. I had also got opportunity to interact with director of the film - Ritesh Batra. He is called as cinematic tinder of common man, because he brings romance into lives of characters that have faced struggle and challenges in life.

It is a beautiful story of old aged woman and man who were living alone for years after their spouses have died. They break silence and start sleeping over same bed only to escape loneliness. Both of them continue talking and gossiping about their past lives, happy moments as well as regrets. Their children have grown up and are living their own independent life. Film is an emotional drama, warmth in relationships, and shows sense of human life in dialogues. It explores psyche of old age through their responses to life circumstances. Film end up teaching many life lessons through these characters. Addie regrets that she has spent years thinking what people would be talking about her.

Film is adapted from the novel of same name by Kent Haruf, who died just few weeks after publishing his last novel.

This is a beautiful movie, a rare gem these days when movies compete in how much blood and gore they can pack in an hour and a half. It is a beautiful story, though really both uplifting and quite sad. In the modern society with the glorification of business and perpetual immaturity, this was a breath of fresh air. Brilliant actors.