Return Film

Linda Cardellini, so memorably vulnerable as Lindsay on Freaks and Geeks, gives a terrific, flinty performance as Kelli.

An ode to a woman’s journey of self-discovery and her attempts to fit into the life she thought she was fighting for.

It’s what indie filmmaking ought to be.

Anchored by a powerfully restrained performance by Ms. Cardellini, who appears in virtually every scene, RETURN, Liza Johnson’s sober first feature, is impressive for what it leaves out.

Johnson’s feel for the rhythms of reconnection are steady, and she and her fine actors make RETURN one of only a handful of films to honestly address what to many is heartbreaking reality.

Some of us have been waiting since Freaks and Geeks for Cardellini to have a big-screen role this rich, and she’s confident enough to give an entirely inward performance.

Finally someone has written a really good role for Linda Cardellini—a big, prickly, demanding role that puts her onscreen in literally every scene—and it’s a thrill to watch her operating at full throttle.

I don’t have enough words of praise for Linda Cardellini’s performance. Her emotions always seem so real that it’s easy to forget she’s an actress playing a part—and she really shines here. I so admire the restraint she brought to this Oscar-worthy performance.

As a soldier/mom, Linda Cardellini conveys dislocation with eloquent silence, sometimes just in how she looks at a TV screen.

Michael Shannon is equally impressive as her husband, a loving family man who has simply moved on in his life ever-so-slightly.

Set in struggling small-town Ohio, the film is an implicit commentary on the economic realities surrounding America’s military, but it’s no treatise on war.

John Slattery steals the picture with a performance that pops off the screen.

Return avoids every cliche of the coming-home-from-battle genre—and finds power in silence.

Expertly and sensitively acted with a soul-baring lead performance by Linda
Cardellini, RETURN is beautifully-written, artfully directed, and all too
relevant today.

Cardellini turned in an impressively understated performance as a servicewoman just back from war in RETURN.

RETURN is secured by a performance of perfect wayward confusion from Linda Cardellini.