The Cathedral

The rise and fall of a middle-class family at a historical moment marked by diminished expectations. An extended Catholic family navigates the personal and financial upheavals of life in the 1980s and 1990s. Seen through the eyes of an only child, a sensitive young boy, the family’s trajectory is further signposted by the era’s defining political events, as revealed through real archival footage.

The sophomore feature from American filmmaker Ricky D’Ambrose embodies the shifting, evolving notions of personal and political history, through the mournful yet unsentimental gaze of a young boy. Though much of the highest stakes action takes place offscreen, an epic, ultimately devastating family melodrama unfolds. Maybe it’s the detailed rendering of the period hairstyles and fashions, but the film hints to a 1990s daytime television aesthetic, albeit as filtered through the textured  lens of its author, replete with stunning compositions in a collage of images and sound.