Pieces of a Woman is a pretty great depressing, despondent movie that’s the feel sad movie of January. And it’s well worth the watch if you want to see some good acting and writing.

The film is about a tragic home birth filmed in a pretty virtuoso single take (ending with a confident smash to title after thirty minutes of runtime). The film then follows how the married couple handle (and fail to handle) their grief. And that’s about it. Just a movie about a failing marriage composed of two sad, angry people.

For a two+ hour movie, I was wholly engrossed by this film. I’m surprised how quickly this movie went, especially for a film that’s so much about depression and anger. It stars Vanessa Kirby and, of all people, Shia LaBeouf as the couple and they are both pretty great. She’s more the star of the movie than him (as suggested by the title).

If it has any failings it’s probably a pretty on-the-nose bit of bridge building metaphor. It’s kind of eye-rolling how bluntly its used, especially in that the film has a great ending that doesn’t need the actual blunt imagery.

I think this flick is well worth watching, especially if you’ve been looking for something more focused on the human condition. It’s nice to see Netflix pick up human movies as well as the romcoms, Christmas movies, action flicks, etc.

Score: 88