Lullaby

While the performances are the key to the success of Lullaby, it is Levitas’ heartfelt and personal story (his inspiration for writing it came from his own family experience) that provides the necessary tools for these actors to work with.

This terminal illness tale rises above the form, mainly thanks to a stellar cast and a refusal to drift into maudlin, a film that saves its big emotions for a wrenching finale that it earns.

Garrett Hedlund's performance throbs with an anguish that's far more honest than the sentimental euthanasia subplot at the center of the film.

Sadly, Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard are wasted in tiny parts, as is Amy Adams as the lost love of the sulky rocker.

This feature debut deals mainly in clichés, never transforming the tough question at its center into compelling cinema.

Lullaby is a small movie, but it slows down enough to accommodate plenty of self-indulgence.

Rarely has the terminal seemed as interminable as it does in Lullaby.