Ben is Back

★★★★

His name is Ben Burns. But Lucas Hedges’ character in the new drama from writer/ director Peter Hedges should really be named “Also.”

He’s honest, but he’s also a liar. He’s straightforward, but also speaks psychobabble. He’s selfless; also selfish. He’s a good kid. He’s also an addict.

Ben Is Back shares many similarities with Beautiful Boy, which starred Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet and opened in October. There’s a messed-up, drugaddicted child and a worried parent determined not to give up on him. Both also premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival.

But in spite of this being a fictional construct — Beautiful Boy was based on a real story — Ben hits its emotional beats more forcefully and squarely. Perhaps it’s the pressure-cooker timeline; the story takes place over a 24-hour period beginning on Christmas Eve, when Ben unexpectedly shows up at his family’s house. He’s supposed to be in rehab.

His sister Ivy (Kathryn Newton), forever saddled with the responsibility of being the kid who didn’t screw up, is immediately distrustful. So too is stepdad Neal (Courtney B. Vance). But his mother, played by Julia Roberts, is determined to give him a chance. She’s no pushover, however, and sets a list of demands that must be met if he’s going to spend the next day with the family.

In addition to making this a perfect December release, Ben Is Back’s yuletide setting calls to mind Dickens, as the young man confronts the ghosts of his past actions, struggles to make it through the present Christmas, and even winds up in a graveyard, with his mother telling him: “Just tell me son, where you want me to bury you.”

Hedges (yes, he’s the director’s son) turns in a beautiful performance of a man grappling with shame and fear, trying to prove to himself and to his family, against the evidence and the odds, that he’s going to be all right. You get the sense that he believes if he can convince one party, the other will follow.

Roberts, as tough-love mom, gets most of the best lines in the film, including one exquisitely uncomfortable scene in which she berates an elderly doctor for his part in her son’s problems. But the film’s saddest, most beautiful bit of dialogue isn’t an extended speech. It’s eight words, when Mom’s trying to start the car. “You’re trying too hard,” says her son. She replies wearily: “That’s what I do.” ∏∏∏∏ Ben Is Back opens Dec. 14 in Toronto, with other cities to follow.