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Collateral Beauty
Since joining this forum, I have watched a lot of movies that revolved around the grieving process but I found 2016's Collateral Beauty a prickly and moving cinematic journey that is an examination of the grieving process at a different and challenging level, even if it's a bit of a cheat at times.
Will Smith heads a terrific ensemble cast as Howard, the co-owner of an advertising empire whose life has gone into a tailspin two years after the death of his six year old daughter. Howard continues to go to work every day but his heart and his head aren't in it causing serious repercussions on the business. As the business quietly begins circling the drain, Howard has cut off communication completely and begins seeking answers to his grief by writing letters to entities like love, death, and time.
Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Pena) are three of Howard's business partners who feel for what he is going through but have issues of their own, primarily watching their business being destroyed because major deals cannot be executed without Howard's input, so after we learn that Howard has "terrorized" grief counselors, the partners decide to go in a different direction and they hire three actors (Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Jacob Latimore) to go to Howard pretending to be time, love, and death and talk to Howard about the letters they received from him.
This story was a unique screen journey anchored by Allen Loeb's quirky and edgy screenplay which initially has sort of a Woody Allen sensibility to it, taking very realistic story elements and running roughshod over them with fantasy trimmings that don't wash as cleanly as they should. I found myself intrigued by the idea of these actors taking on this ultimate acting challenge while simultaneously wondering if doing this would drive Howard into total insanity since his competency is already in question. I understand that Howard's partners are concerned about their business, but I had to wonder if there was an element of danger in what they were doing.
The danger of this charade becomes a through line as we do find Howard seeking more realistic help in the form of a support group led by a woman (Oscar nominee Naomie Harris) who finds Howard a constant struggle but refuses to give up on him. This story approaches the subject of death and grief with a kind risky fragility that teeters on the edge of storytelling taste, but wraps to a very surprising and very satisfactory conclusion. Before that, we are enchanted as each of the three actors develop interesting personal connections with Whit, Claire, and Simon.
David Frankel's direction is detailed enough to allow the viewer to forgive small plot holes and must also give a nod to Andrew Marcus' editing and Theodore Shapiro's lush music score. Frankel gets some strong work from his hand-picked cast. Will Smith has not moved me this way since The Pursuit of Happyness and Norton, Winslet (doing another perfect American accent), Pena,and Mirren also make every moment they have onscreen count. A compelling cinematic experience that might have you scratching your head at times, but the final ten minutes make any confusions the viewer might have had worth it.
Since joining this forum, I have watched a lot of movies that revolved around the grieving process but I found 2016's Collateral Beauty a prickly and moving cinematic journey that is an examination of the grieving process at a different and challenging level, even if it's a bit of a cheat at times.
Will Smith heads a terrific ensemble cast as Howard, the co-owner of an advertising empire whose life has gone into a tailspin two years after the death of his six year old daughter. Howard continues to go to work every day but his heart and his head aren't in it causing serious repercussions on the business. As the business quietly begins circling the drain, Howard has cut off communication completely and begins seeking answers to his grief by writing letters to entities like love, death, and time.
Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Pena) are three of Howard's business partners who feel for what he is going through but have issues of their own, primarily watching their business being destroyed because major deals cannot be executed without Howard's input, so after we learn that Howard has "terrorized" grief counselors, the partners decide to go in a different direction and they hire three actors (Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Jacob Latimore) to go to Howard pretending to be time, love, and death and talk to Howard about the letters they received from him.
This story was a unique screen journey anchored by Allen Loeb's quirky and edgy screenplay which initially has sort of a Woody Allen sensibility to it, taking very realistic story elements and running roughshod over them with fantasy trimmings that don't wash as cleanly as they should. I found myself intrigued by the idea of these actors taking on this ultimate acting challenge while simultaneously wondering if doing this would drive Howard into total insanity since his competency is already in question. I understand that Howard's partners are concerned about their business, but I had to wonder if there was an element of danger in what they were doing.
The danger of this charade becomes a through line as we do find Howard seeking more realistic help in the form of a support group led by a woman (Oscar nominee Naomie Harris) who finds Howard a constant struggle but refuses to give up on him. This story approaches the subject of death and grief with a kind risky fragility that teeters on the edge of storytelling taste, but wraps to a very surprising and very satisfactory conclusion. Before that, we are enchanted as each of the three actors develop interesting personal connections with Whit, Claire, and Simon.
David Frankel's direction is detailed enough to allow the viewer to forgive small plot holes and must also give a nod to Andrew Marcus' editing and Theodore Shapiro's lush music score. Frankel gets some strong work from his hand-picked cast. Will Smith has not moved me this way since The Pursuit of Happyness and Norton, Winslet (doing another perfect American accent), Pena,and Mirren also make every moment they have onscreen count. A compelling cinematic experience that might have you scratching your head at times, but the final ten minutes make any confusions the viewer might have had worth it.