This romantic and familial drama feels like a throwback to the 70s. The men have a thin veneer of swaggering machismo that covers a wounded child while the women are relegated to be their coaches/therapists. Fortunately writer/director John Margary's dialogue and direction covers these tropes/cliches in a fresh coat of paint. He recalls early Scorsese and Altman in an exciting way.

"The Mend" is a pretentious, unfunny, self-important indie film about two dysfunctional brothers who never resolve their issues. This film has nothing to say and meanders onward drunkenly through empty scenes and situations and no amount of big words, sophisticated music, or hipsters within a scene will actually make "The Mend" seem intelligent. It's a real drag.

Being abstract and weird is certainly not something a lot of people would like, but that's the sort of tone that The Mend works in. On one hand, it is telling a mostly simple, straight-forward tale of two brothers and their dysfunction, but on the other hand giving that description of the film would not give it enough credit at all. I read a review calling it a very confident debut feature, and that it is. Not many fresh filmmakers would attempt to hint at the pacing and balanced tone that this does, and in that respect, props need to be given in different ways. That's not to say that all of it works though, since there are instances where more restraint may have been appreciated. Nonetheless, very intriguing film

Didn't finish watching. VERY slow.

This is a movie I thoroughly did not get anything out of. I feel like with a better director this could have really shone. I liked aspects of it-I liked the weirder abstract sounds or emotions- but in the end it felt meandering, distant and ultimately empty. Like the party guest who waxes just poetically enough to drag you into conversation until it slowly dawns on you that they're just stoned and rambling without substance, I could have spent my two hours elsewhere.

One of the best of the year. I don't even love all of it, but I love all of it, if that makes any sense. What a movie.

Audacious and original filmmaking. Everything worked, besides the iris shots. Great performance by Josh Lucas, even with the hair plugs, but even better by Austin Pendleton. This movie is the real deal. Unlike most indies these days, this one is made from the inside out. It is not Little Miss Sunshine, with a distant eye on "crazy" families. This filmmaker, John Magary, is as crazy as the brothers he is making the movie about. Which is a relief. There is no judgement of the characters. There is no condescension of the characters. And the film has more energy in it than all of the Marvel blockbuster movies of this year put together.

"The Mend," about a pair of oil-and-water brothers in free fall, is by turns opaque, harsh, self-aware, indulgent and wickedly funny. It's never dull, pummeling you with its prickly smarts.

What is it trying to say actually?

The Mend is a film that overcomes any familiarity in its script by being deliriously off-kilter in its presentation. Carried by an excellent modernist score, and unconventional editing, The Mend is a rather unpredictable experience, which is apropos for a film about family dysfunction, and downward spirals. While at times the film is confounding, and falters in its tone (it's not easy trying to simultaneously be a psycho-drama and a slice-of-life comedy), it's never uninteresting, and ends with a sly wink that makes it all the more provocative. Director/writer John Magary will be a talent to look out for.