Mike Binder does not waste any time in illustrating any complex ideas of how and what could possible create an endless distance within a family.  In the first scene, the daughter Lavender (Evan Rachel Wood), also known as Popeye, states, “A case in point in anger’s ability to change us is my mother.”  Through Popeye’s statement, Binder verbally and visually focuses the attention to the mother, Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen).  Through Terry, an obvious sentiment emerges, anger in the form of a cold and merciless resentment, which she continuously tries to control in the haze of vodka.  Despite Terry’s concentrated efforts to bottle up her feelings with alcohol, her resentment seeps through her tightly shut bottleneck, as everyone of any relation to her falls victim to her anguishing well-managed rage at the most awkward moments.

After the opening where Terry and Popeye ride in the back of a limousine together with former baseball pro Denny Davies (Kevin Costner) to a funeral, the story jumps back three years.  Through this extensive flashback, the audience learns that Terry’s husband Gray has left her for a young and beautiful Swedish secretary, which also seems to be the root for her anger.  Her neighbor Denny soon learns about Gray’s departure, and invites himself into the home of the Wolfmeyer’s with the help of his manipulative charm.  Together Terry and Denny become drinking buddies, as Denny also tries to drown the feeling of being a has-been.  Nonetheless, Denny and Terry get closer to one another while Terry’s resentment and anger flare up in the most inappropriate moments where she ends up hurting her daughters emotionally.

The absence of the father Gray has shaken the Wolfmeyer family to the core, as he never has attempted to contact them.  The neglect from the father furthers the emotional pain within the daughters who also must deal with their resentful mother.  It has also hurt Terry, as she never got the opportunity to get closure to her relationship with Gray.  Terry and her daughters have merely been left in an unfeeling no-mans land that is occasionally lightened up by the presence of Denny.  Nonetheless, the daughters also find their own struggles such as getting married, post-high school educational decisions, and the people that the daughters date adds to Terry’s anger, which sporadically flares up in small explosions.

The Upside of Anger is a film that resembles two recent films Imaginary Heroes (2004) and Garden State (2004) in regards to the cold and detached atmosphere in the film.  There is also some likeness with Little Women (1994), but regardless of the similarities with other films Binder succeeds in making a unique story that touches the audience.  The story delivers a dissection of anger in a woman who ends up hurting those she loves.  However, it is not the tearjerker that many might anticipate, but the film delivers several thoughtful messages worth pondering, as people try to reach across the water between the islands.

DIRECTED BY

COUNTRY

USA / Germany / UK

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