Daddy Longlegs (2009) review

Divorced Lenny (Ronald Bronstein) gets two weeks out of the entire year to spend with his sons Sage and Frey (the actual children of Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer, who also have roles), and during that time he drags them to upstate New York with a woman he hooked up with, the boys are nearly crushed by a man standing on them, he's late picking them up from school, he drugs them because he has to work through the night (he's a projectionist) ... and is later arrested for spray painting graffiti.  There's an autobiographical element to this - the filmmakers allegedly based it on their own biological Pop - and this could be read as their attempt to "forgive" him for giving them life but not really being a "Father" since it doesn't paint him in a sympathetic light.  They had their aesthetic down at this point (and would continue "polishing it up" along the way to Uncut Gems, one of 2019's best films), but it's still underwritten and rambling ... and using doe-eyed waifs for sympathy points is the cheap way out.  The original title was Go Get Some Rosemary, but I'll suggest a third: Mom's Better at Adulting.