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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:19
Rotten:6
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Canvas is a faithful portrayal of mental illness highlighted by terrific performances.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: This debut feature from director Joseph Greco is the semi-autobiographical tale of a 10-year-old Florida boy, Chris (Devon Gearhart), who returns from a summer in Alaska to find his mentally ill... [More]
Starring: Marcia Gay Harden, Joe Pantoliano, Devon Gearhart, Paul Lasa
Director: Joseph Greco
Movies don’t come more personal than Canvas, writer/director/co-producer Joseph Greco’s serious-minded exploration of the devastating effects unleashed by mental illness upon an otherwise tightly knit American family.
Though Canvas may not deviate much from the formula followed by so many other movies about families imperiled by health crises, it's unusually perceptive about the ways that loved ones process (or fail to process) the resulting stress.
There is something to be said for a filmmaker like Greco who takes the truth -- no matter how tough it is -- and turns it into a compelling drama about people we might know in life.
It's like a public service announcement with dialogue.
[A] strong first feature.
A pair of well-shaded performances by Joe Pantoliano and Marcia Gay Harden dignifies a sincere but innocuous look at a blue-collar husband’s struggle with his wife’s schizophrenia.
If it weren't for the terrific performances, Canvas would be a dull and lifeless film; Marcia Gay Harden explores the schizophrenic character of Mary with a judicial technique that is both compassionate and credible.
Writer-director Joseph Greco makes a nice feature-film debut telling a true, disturbing story about a 10-year-old boy struggling to cope with a schizophrenic mother.
Canvas just doesn't sketch a sufficiently vivid portrait.
Top CriticCanvas is worth seeing for the acting, but the disease-of-the-week conventions and hackneyed visuals pretty well knock the wind out of its sails.
Greco succeeds where many others have failed in giving a real sense of what it is to grow up with a parent who's hobbled by mental illness.
Greco takes his biggest risk, perhaps, when he puts that boat in water with father and son manning the sails. It could be a mawkish scene that sinks everything that came before it, but like the watercraft that symbolizes so much, the movie remains afloat.
I can see why it was a hit at film festivals. I only hope it now gets its due in theaters.
First-time filmmaker Joseph Greco draws on personal experience for this devastating yet honest portrait of an ordinary Florida family.
Though Harden has the showier role, a subdued Pantoliano is the movie's real star. Sometimes, the quietest performances are the most powerful.
Canvas is a serious film about mental illness and a sentimental heartwarmer, and succeeds in both ways.
Top CriticCanvas is a movie that rings emotionally true, despite structural contrivances and dim, washed-out color.
Top CriticSmall and slow-moving, and not in a way that means finely detailed and pensive.
Despite its admirable qualities, Canvas fizzles and falls into cliche.
An absence of detail means that Canvas teaches little about what it's like to be mentally ill or to know someone who is.
October 11, 2007:
Critical Consensus: No Debatin' Clayton, Night Almost Owns, Elizabeth Not Golden
This week at the movies we got lawyer types (Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney and Tilda Swinton), dueling brothers (We Own the Night, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark... More...
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