While surpassed by the masterpiece Tár, Todd Field already garnered critical acclaim by his first feature debut In The Bedroom all the way back in 2001. The story is a familiar revenge drama that we might have heard from stories from small towns, but the way Field captures it is fascinating, with its challenging, layered dialogue, and the juxtaposed young and old love hinting at both couples’ insecurities, jealousy, and possessiveness, particularly with regards to the potential college graduate Frank has. It’s slow-paced, haunting, and Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek share a sense of heartbreaking intimacy only true couples can wield against each other. In The Bedroom showed us Todd Field’s brilliant filmmaking that we hope to see more soon.

There’s something so interesting about the way masculinity is written here. There’s a sense that all three men– Matt and Frank Fowler, and Richard Strout– are all in some way possessive over their families, to the point of life and death, to the point that they would rather handle it themselves rather than rely on the police or the court.