Whether or not you enjoy Winter Solstice depends entirely on what kind of movie you're looking for. Depending on how your expectations line up with what the film delivers, you'll either find it compelling (as some have, given that it's gotten some recognition from independent film festivals) or you'll find it pointless. There's not much room in the middle.

I'll say up front that while I enjoy strongly character-driven pieces as well, I'm most often looking for a good story. It might take place on the small domestic scale, or it might play out on an epic stage, but a narrative drive is important to me as a viewer. That's something that Winter Solstice seems to have completely side-stepped. It's essentially a slice from the life of one family: the widowed father (Anthony LaPaglia) and his two high-school-aged sons, who are increasingly alienated from him and their small-town life in general. And that's really it: over the course of 90 very long minutes, we see them interacting, and being influenced to a certain extent by their new, cheerful neighbor (Alison Janney). That's it. The film gives us, in loving detail, a portrait of several quiet, depressed characters more or less getting on with their lives. It's realistic, but there's little compelling reason why we should want to watch it.

I like Anthony LaPaglia, having been very impressed with his performance in Without a Trace, but he can't salvage the film from its problem of having no particular direction. He's convincing as the brooding, depressed father who dearly loves his sons but doesn't quite know how to deal with them... but with the script that he's given, which has him mostly wandering around looking melancholy, there's not much more he can do.

To be fair, I do think that all the performances in Winter Solstice are quite solid; the two sons seem realistically conflicted, and the family dynamic among all three feels true to life. It's just that nothing ever comes of those performances; in the smallest of scales, it's possible to see some emotional development (though that may be an artifact of wishful thinking, given the "men are silent" approach to dialogue here) among the characters, but otherwise it's an almost stationary film. Winter Solstice is perhaps best described as a character still-life; it's nicely done if that's what you want, but if you're looking for color, life, and movement, look elsewhere.

The DVD

Video

Winter Solstice is presented in a reasonable anamorphic widescreen transfer, at the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The picture is surprisingly grainy, with some edge enhancement as well, so overall it looks fairly soft. It's watchable, though, with no flaws other than that.

Audio

Viewers have the choice of a Dolby 5.1 or a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, either of which are fine, given the quiet, minimal and dialogue-driven nature of the track.

Extras

A set of previews for Paramount films is the only special feature.

Final thoughts

I found Winter Solstice to be a well-acted film with no story that makes it worth watching. If you're fine with having no particular narrative drive and no resolution, Winter Solstice may be worth checking out, but otherwise I'd pass. The solid cast list makes it sound more appealing than it really is, though the fault is with the script and director rather than the actors. Rent it.