Lawrence and Meg Kasdan’s “Darling Companion” is an enjoyable comedy/drama that focuses on an adult marriage after the kids move out and leave home.  The connection that even after decades of marriage and whether you are in your ’40s, ’50’s, ’60s or older, your significant other or a single individual, still wants to feel connected, still wants to feel and be loved. Most films tend to focus on young love, but it’s great to see a film about re-discovering love, no matter what age you may be.
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DVD TITLE: Darling Companion
DURATION: 104 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English, Portuguese, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Classics
RATED: PG-13 (For Some Sexual Content Including References and Languages)
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2012
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Written by Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan
Produced by Anthony Bregman, Elizabeth Redleaf
Co-Producer: Stefanie Azpiazu, Andrew Peterson, Mark Steele
Executive Producer: Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan, John J. Kelly, Christine K. Walker
Music by Kames Newton Howard
Cinematography by Michael McDonough
Edited by Carol Littleton
Casting by Ronna Kres
Production Design by Dina Goldman
Art Direction by Christopher R. DeMuri
Set Decoration by Les Boothe, Cynthia A. Neibaur
Costume Design by Molly Maginnis
Starring:
Charles Halford as Christus
Diane Keaton as Beth
Kevin Kline as Joseph
Dianne Wiest as Penny
Richard Jenkins as Russell
Elisabeth Moss as Grace
Mark Duplass as Bryan
Ayelet Zurer as Carmen
Sam Shepard as Sheriff Morris
Lindsay Sloane as Ellie
Jay Ali as Sam
Robert Bear as Possum
In DARLING COMPANION, Beth (Diane Keaton) saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway on a wintry day in Denver. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph (Kevin Kline) and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after a wedding at their vacation home in the Rockies, the distraught Beth enlists the help of the few remaining guests and a mysterious young woman (Ayelet Zurer) in a frantic search. Each member of the search party is affected by the adventure, which takes them in unexpected directions – comic, harrowing, sometimes deeply emotional and ultimately towards love.
Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan (known for writing “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Silverado”, “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”, “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi”) and wife, actress/writer Meg Kasdan (“Grand Canyon”, “The Big Chill”, “Silverado”) are known for working on major feature films but in 2010, the two came together to work on an independent film titled “Darling Companion”.
Featuring an all-star cast which includes Diane Keaton (“The Godfather” films, “Father of the Bride” films, “Annie Hall”), Kevin Kline (“Wild Wild West”, “A Fish Called Wanda”, “The Ice Storm”), Dianne Wiest (“Edward Scissorhads”, “The Lost Boys”, “I A Sam”), Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor”, “Step Brother”, “Burn After Reading”), Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”, “Girl, Interrupted”, “Get Him to the Greek”), Mark Duplass (“The Puffy Chair”, “Humpday”, “The League”) and Ayalet Zurer (“Angels & Demons”, “Munich”, “Vantage Point”).
The film will now be released on DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
“Darling Companion” is a drama set in the Rockies and revolves around an ensemble cast.
Beth Winter (as portrayed by Diane Keaton) is an emotional mother and wife. Her husband Dr. Joseph Winter (as portrayed by Kevin Kline) is often busy at work and with her daughters having grown up and starting their own families, she has bonded with a stray dog named Freeway.
At first Dr. Joseph Winter did not want the dog but eventually Freeway became a big part of the family and also led to the Winter’s daughter Grace (as portrayed Elisabeth Moss) getting engaged with the veterinarian Sam (as portrayed by Jay Ali).
A year later, the family along with Freeway attend Grace Winter’s wedding. The day after the wedding, Dr. Joseph Winter goes out for a walk with Freeway while talking on his cell phone and the dog takes off when he sees a deer.
When Dr. Winter tells his wife, Beth becomes emotional and friends and family begin looking for Freeway. But to no avail.
Now with Freeway missing, as the Winters and the guests are supposed to return back home, Dr. Winter has appointments and wants to leave. But to Beth’s chagrin, they get into a heated argument because she loves Freeway and wants to stay back home. Dr. Winter looks at Freeway only as a dog and doesn’t see the big deal, but Beth counters that she loves the dog and will not leave him behind. And this eventually leads to an argument between the two as Dr. Winter feels that she loves Freeway more than him.
This leads to other branching storylines as Bryan Alexander (as portrayed by Mark Duplass) gets close to the cabin caretaker Carmen (as portrayed by Ayelet Zurer), his mother Penny Alexander (as portrayed by Dianne Wiest), brother to Dr. Joseph Winter, is getting married again to a man named Russell (as portrayed by Richard Jenkins).  And both Dr. Joseph Winter and Bryan are a bit confused when they find out that Russell and Penny have decided to open a warm beer restaurant in Nebraska. But more concerned that both Penny and Russell are using up their whole savings to open this restaurant.
And as emotions are building up for the loss of Freeway, Carmen reveals herself to be a psychic gypsy. And for Carmen, she can sense Freeway but needs everyone’s help to help find him.
With the time together, it gives Dr. Joseph and his wife Beth the time to air out their emotions but also spend quality time together. For Bryan, it gives him the time to know his potential new father-in-law and also get closer to Carmen. While Penny learns from Carmen about enjoying life and making the best of it.
Will each of these individuals find what they are looking for?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Darling Companion” is presented in 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and featuring audio in English, Portuguese and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Shot in Utah, the cinematography by Michael McDough (“Winter’s Bone”, “13”, “New York, I Love You”) is breathtaking. For those who love the wilderness and seeing the changing seasons and the color of the trees and beautiful lush greenery will enjoy the location shots of this film.  There is no doubt that the Blu-ray release of this film will look gorgeous, but on DVD, the film looks good.
As for audio, the film is presented in English, Portuguese and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Dialogue is crystal clear and the ambiance of the wilderness can be heard on the surround channels but the film is primarily dialogue-driven with a few scenes with action and music. But the soundtrack is pleasant and clear!
Subtitles are in English SDH, Spanish and Portuguese.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Darling Companion” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio ommentary with Lawrence Kasdan, Meg Kasdan and Kevin Kline.
- Darling Companion: Behind the Scenes (4:55) Director Lawrence Kasdan and writer Meg Kasdan and the cast talk about the film, the casting of the film, plus behind-the-scenes of “Darling Companion”.
- Behind the Scenes: Lawrence Kasdan – (5:01) The cast and crew talk about working with a quality director, Lawrence Kasdan.
- Finding Freeway: Dog People – (3:33) An introduction to Casey and Kumo who play the dog, Freeway. Interviews with the Steve Solomon (animal trainer) and Sarah Cole (dog handler) and how Casey was rescued from a dog shelter. And how the story of Freelancer was inspired by Meg Kasdan’s dog who was lost in the mountains for three weeks. The cast talk about the dogs they’ve owned.
- On the Red Carpet: New York Premiere – (2:42) Behind-the-scenes at the NY premiere of “Darling Companion”.
- Trailer – (2:22) The official theatrical trailer for “Darling Companion”.
There are not many films that focus on a relationship of a couple who are in their ’60s, let alone a film about a relationship of people who have been married for over 30-years.
And for filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, well-known known for writing or directing quite a good number of America’s box office hits, having been away from directing for nearly a decade, Lawrence and his wife, actress/writer Meg Kasdan decided on why not feature a film about marriage among a 60-year-old couple but also including experiences that they have had as husband and wife.
Inspired by the Kasdan’s losing their dog in the mountains for three weeks and eventually being reunited with it, the story is about how losing a dog can help bring people together.
Personally, I enjoyed the film because we know that among relationships, especially when one is in an occupation that is very busy, the other half is occupied by their dedication to their children. For “Darling Companion”, it’s an interesting concept because in the film, we see Beth Winter’s daughters leaving home after getting married and starting their own family. And her children were there for her, as opposed to her husband, Dr. Joseph Winter, a surgeon who is always working.
So, for Beth to rescue this dog, it becomes her baby. Her closes friend that will be there for her and keep her company. Earlier in the film, we see the daughters concerned about their mother and knowing their father is barely there. But knowing how lonely she would be without them.
We don’t see this type of storyline all that often in American cinema. While in foreign cinema, we have seen it in Yasujiro Ozu films, who explore the family dynamic and the feeling of loss.
While we have seen Diane Keaton in a role of saying goodbye to her daughter in the two “Father of the Bride” films, “Darling Companion” is intriguing on how it focuses on a couple who are re-discovering each other and what matters most, only after the loss of their dog. This part is real and I found quite touching.
The supporting characters signify other types of love through their relationship and also injected to various scenes more for comedy sake. The character of Russell and Penny is rather interesting because they are an older couple who want to start life anew by starting their own dry beer restaurant in Nebraska. Surprising to their friends but it’s a life that these two want to pursue and they are trying to find investors who will help support their endeavor. For me, this was a bit too farfetched but what I did like about these two characters is the fact that Penny is the character than listens and is willing to tell her brother, Dr. Winters how she feels, rather bluntly.
Her fiance Russell is fascinating because not only is he funny but he has a way about doing things that makes him quite upbeat, no matter how old he maybe, he surprises people and that’s what makes Penny so attracted to him and wiling to remarry.
And for those wondering if this film is about people in their ’60s, the answer is no. You get Penny’s son, Bryan, a doctor who works along with his uncle, Dr. Winters. And we get to see him falling for the cabin caretaker and resident gypsie, Carmen. While I felt that their relationship was not so important in the film, the character of Carmen is. She is the glue that keeps everyone together through her “visions” and through these visions, she has people looking for the dog, but most importantly, characters to develop and seeing how the Winter’s confront their marriage, while Bryan gets to learn more about his new stepfather.
While the story is not perfect, it is rather touching and I found the premise of the story to be good. But I feel that focusing on other characters that were not so important, weakened the plot quite a bit. There is also a scene where Beth has a nightmare of Freeway running from wolves and falling off a cliff. But the scene is played out in animated form, which I found distracting. But I can understand why it was done, as it would be too expensive and dangerous to pull that scene off for a low-budget independent film.
Fortunately, instead of becoming an emotional drama, “Darling Companion” is more of an ensemble romantic comedy. It’s upbeat and I found it to be entertaining, but anyone wanting something deep and heartbreaking, this is not that type of film. If you want to see something more serious and emotional about the family dynamic, then you’ll want to see a Yasujiro Ozu film. Otherwise, if you want to see something fun, upbeat…popcorn comedy/drama, then “Darling Companion” is for you.
While I think it may appeal to a slightly older demographic who understands the feeling of being a parent or an individual in their ’40s, ’50s or ’60s, wanting to be loved in a relationship or just wanting to be loved in general, this is a film that connects with you because you can understand what the characters are going through.
Diane Keaton is wonderful in playing Beth Winters, lonely mother and wife, while Kevin Cline does a great job in playing the busy and distant husband, Joseph. These are two characters that mature audiences can understand and feel sympathy for.
As for the DVD release, the video and audio quality are good on DVD, but one will definitely want to consider the Blu-ray release, as I’m sure the film would look and sound incredible in HD. And you get a good number of special features included on the DVD release from audio commentary, interviews and also learning about the dogs who play “Freeway”.
Overall, Lawrence and Meg Kasdan’s “Darling Companion” is an enjoyable comedy/drama that focuses on an adult marriage after the kids move out and leave home.  The connection that even after decades of marriage and whether you are in your ’40s, ’50’s, ’60s or older, your significant other or a single individual, still wants to feel connected, still wants to feel and be loved. Most films tend to focus on young love, but it’s great to see a film about re-discovering love, no matter what age you may be.
