Institute History
Description
Bobby Roth's enormously compelling family drama, Manhood, draws its emotional potency from a well of terrific performances, exceptionally realistic and honest storytelling, and what is clearly a significant trove of personal tragedy.
Following in the footsteps of Roth's equally engaging Jack the Dog, Manhood possesses sharply defined, memorable characters that make a visceral impact without resorting to the usual theatrical histrionics of screen melodrama. A reformed womanizer (now living divorced and alone in order to keep custody of his adolescent son) becomes embroiled in the newly separated life of his older sister, her punk son, and incredible cad of a husband in this compassionate, funny, truthful tale, reminiscent of a Cassavetes verité, that carries us toward an explosion of real-world drama that could only come from life's resolutely unsentimental denouement.