Fathers And Daughters (2015)

After his wife (Jenny Vos) is killed in an automobile accident, a writer (Russell Crowe) struggles to raise his daughter (Kylie Rogers) while handicapped by brain damage which causes severe seizures as well as guilt over the accident. 25 years later, his grown up daughter (Amanda Seyfried) struggles with the emotional baggage she carries with her over her childhood. The film alternates between the father's story and  the grown up daughter's story. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, this is an imperfect film but it wasn't worthy of the dismissive reviews when it originally came out. It's a solid film which captures the struggle of a single father attempting to raise a daughter while dealing with illness and financial loss and of a young woman unable to deal with commitment because of a robbed childhood. The film has touches of KRAMER VS. KRAMER (a court battle to take his child from him) and LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR (the daughter's casual promiscuity and one night stands). It may not be fresh but it gets a lot of things right. Crowe is well cast but it's Seyfried who offers up an insightful performance of a self destructive woman struggling to save herself. With Jane Fonda, Octavia Spencer, Quvenzhane Wallis, Diane Kruger, Bruce Greenwood (suitably slimy) and Aaron Paul.