Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

This film is still as timely today as it was nearly forty years ago when it was first released.
Ted Kramer (the brilliant Dustin Hoffman) comes home from the office with good news but his wife, Joanna (the always excellent Meryl Streep) doesn't care. She's leaving him and their young son, Billy (Justin Henry). Ted has to go from being very career-centric to having to put his child first, and there are plenty of bumps along the way, including Ted losing his job because he can't meet the stressful demands it placed upon him and care for his young child as well.
And then Joanna returns, and wants her son back so a nasty custody battle ensues, tears are had on both sides but the judge picks the mother, ripping Ted's heart out once more.
The plot is incredibly simple and most of the scenes just show everyday life, but they are very realistic, from the tiny apartment kitchen in New York City to the jungle gym on the playground to father and son arranging breakfast together. That doesn't make the feelings that go along with it simple. You feel for Ted, who sacrificed the career of a lifetime to focus on his son and you feel for Joanna, upset and unhappy in a marriage where she wasn't allowed to truly be herself, or even work outside the home. I understand that she had to leave to find herself, but that doesn't mean she had to leave her child especially if she even said that Ted wasn't sympathetic to Billy's needs. Each Streep and Hoffman give steady performances and young Justin Henry should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor; he plays the typical kid, upset that he has to leave Daddy's home and has no choice in the matter. Jane Alexander, as Margaret, a friend of Joanna's then of Ted, is also great. Her loyalty switches sides throughout the film. I have just two problems with the film. At the beginning, the street musicians are playing the song that overlaps with when Ted arrives home and Margaret oversteps her bounds when she is on the stand at the trial. I wish they would have had a scene with her and Joanna, begging Joanna to let Ted keep custody of Billy instead.
The scene when Hoffman realizes that he was the reason Joanna left, you can see his heart break inside, the same as when he must tell Billy that Billy will need to live with Mommy from now on. Streep does, in the end, decide that Billy is home with his father and there is at least a chance of her and Ted becoming friends, at least for Billy's sake. You must hope that they will put their differences aside so Billy can have a happy life. This film will make you feel all the feels and you will be better for it, though it leaves you wondering if everything will be alright and if divorce is really the answer. Grade: A