The Lovely Bones (2009)

I have a strong emotional response to this movie, I have seen it before, but even watching it again the reaction remains a strong one.

The first time I watched this movie I was not yet a father, I am now to a two year old little boy, so this time around my reaction to it is stronger. The sheer horror of dealing with the death of a child is terrifying, whenever I hear about this kind of loss, it resonates with true fear, that something can happen to your child... And even worse the inkling of an idea that this can be delivered through sinister means - as a father, this is my personal greatest fear for my family.

I remember there was a movie with Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jnr and Annabella Sciorra called What Dreams May Come, The Lovely Bones hearkens back to this movie, to the world thereafter where we go as we acclimatize to the transition from breathing to not - both movies have a treatment of the afterlife which is surreal and beautiful, even at its darkest state, of that thing which we all know is greater than us. On-screen this is delivered as mystical as we imagine it to be.

The treatment of loss... loss of life, loss of family, loss of innocence, loss of potential... it pores out of the screen.

The performances are solid, Mark Walberg, Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz, Saoirse Ronan (all members of a family in the midst of the worst kind of crisis), but especially for Stanley Tucci (who would receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in this film) - what a creepy son of a bitch.

Helmed by Peter Jackson (he of Lord Of The Rings) and based on a best-selling 2002 novel written by Alice Sebold, this hybrid of a movie (Thriller/Drama/Fantasy) is well worth a watch...

So that's four of the Oscar selection of movies reviewed (out of what current calculations appear to be approx 530), a bit of a ways off, but loving this project. I look forward to any of your thoughts.

nuff said...