Kurt Loder on Being Flynn

The story at the heart of Being Flynn—troubled young wannabe writer takes a job in a homeless shelter and one night comes face-to-face with the father he never knew—would seem hopelessly contrived if it weren't true. The movie's great achievement, writes Kurt Loder, is that it so effectively captures the poetic grace of the 2004 book on which it's based—Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir, by Nick Flynn, who actually is an esteemed poet—without wobbling into mush. Equally welcome, Loder says, is the reminder it provides of what an electrifying actor Robert De Niro can be when given a smart script and a densely complex character to portray.