Return

Return, a film from 2012, is a finely etched character study of a woman back from deployment in Afghanistan. She did not undergo anything traumatic--repeatedly she says that a lot of people had it much worse than her--but she nonetheless is gripped by a baffling depression.

Linda Cardellini is excellent as Kelli, who joined the National Guard and was kind of stunned to have to be called up. The story begins on her first day back, greeting her two daughters and her husband, Michael Shannon (who, for once, is playing a normal guy). She is glad to be back and everyone is glad to see her again, but as the days go by she's gripped by a melancholy.

First she quits her job in a factory. Then she pushes her husband away to the arms of another woman. She starts drinking, and gets a DUI. While attending group therapy in lieu of incarceration, she meets a fellow vet (John Slattery), who lives in the woods without electricity and has a brief fling with him. However, she has an ulterior motive, as she has been redeployed and does not want to go back.

Return doesn't have any answers. We don't know why she's depressed any more than she does, When Shannon, after she fails to pick up her daughter at cheerleading practice, takes the children away, she contemplates a radical decision. Frequently people ask her "What's wrong with you," and you can tell Cardellini knows she's in the wrong, but can't articulate what she is feeling.

Cardellini is wonderful, as her acting is very minimal but highly effective. Shannon is his usual excellent self, though as stated he is playing someone thoroughly normal, which is kind of weird.

This is what Siskel and Ebert used to call a buried treasure, and deserves more exposure. It was written and directed by Liza Johnson, and though set in Ohio, makes good use of the Newburgh, New York area, where it was filmed. One can't help but notice the depressed surroundings, such as closed stores and ramshackle houses. One of the producers of this film is Meredith Vieira, which surprised me.