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Day 237: December 23rd, 2010
Rabbit Hole
And so this is just the sad version of us...
Rabbit Hole is a mature film. It's hard to describe what that means, but that's how I felt when I was watching it. Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman are a grieving couple. Their son was killed, hit by a car. What makes this film different is that we are introduced to these two after that has happened. Their son was killed several months ago and the film is about these two character trying their best to move on.
Kidman gives one of her best performances in years. The hardest thing I believe a parent has to do is outlive their child. Kidman gives a multi-layered performance that is both restrained and lavish in detail. She is trying her best to move on with her life, she wants to move away, start over. Her husband, Eckhart, doesn't want that. He watches a video of his son on his phone almost every night. He goes to support groups to deal with the pain. He gets angry when Kidman takes down their child's drawings from the fridge. He thinks she is trying to erase his memory.
The film is rich with great performances from the smaller supporting characters as well. Dianne Wiest is Kidman's mother who also lost a child. She tries to be a helping hand, but Kidman won't let her. Real family with real problems, nothing here is Hollywood coated. John Cameron Mitchell's third feature, his two previous efforts were independent films. The rock opera Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the sexual explorative Short Bus. Both I thought were good films. Mitchell seems like a focused director who wants to explore topics that no one wants to touch. I admire that.
There is a small subplot involving a teenager that some might not like that much. I found that it was just an outlet for one character while an obstacle for the other. Rabbit Hole is a tad slow, but the performances are enough to keep you engaged. Ebert said in his review that he knew what the move was going to be about, but he was impressed with how it was told. I feel the same way.
Rabbit Hole
And so this is just the sad version of us...
Rabbit Hole is a mature film. It's hard to describe what that means, but that's how I felt when I was watching it. Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman are a grieving couple. Their son was killed, hit by a car. What makes this film different is that we are introduced to these two after that has happened. Their son was killed several months ago and the film is about these two character trying their best to move on.
Kidman gives one of her best performances in years. The hardest thing I believe a parent has to do is outlive their child. Kidman gives a multi-layered performance that is both restrained and lavish in detail. She is trying her best to move on with her life, she wants to move away, start over. Her husband, Eckhart, doesn't want that. He watches a video of his son on his phone almost every night. He goes to support groups to deal with the pain. He gets angry when Kidman takes down their child's drawings from the fridge. He thinks she is trying to erase his memory.
The film is rich with great performances from the smaller supporting characters as well. Dianne Wiest is Kidman's mother who also lost a child. She tries to be a helping hand, but Kidman won't let her. Real family with real problems, nothing here is Hollywood coated. John Cameron Mitchell's third feature, his two previous efforts were independent films. The rock opera Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the sexual explorative Short Bus. Both I thought were good films. Mitchell seems like a focused director who wants to explore topics that no one wants to touch. I admire that.
There is a small subplot involving a teenager that some might not like that much. I found that it was just an outlet for one character while an obstacle for the other. Rabbit Hole is a tad slow, but the performances are enough to keep you engaged. Ebert said in his review that he knew what the move was going to be about, but he was impressed with how it was told. I feel the same way.