A Review: My Sister's Keeper.

2009-06-27T14:40:00.001-04:00

A very realistic and touching film about the dynamic of a family when dealing with a child who has cancer.

Be sure to bring a small box of Kleenex (or two) when you see this movie; destined to be the Fried Green Tomatoes or Steel Magnolias of our generation. This movie stars Cameron Diaz - in what should be an award-winning role - as Sara Fitzgerald; a mother who has just found out that her 5-year-old daughter, Kate (played by Medium's Sofia Vassilieva), has Leukemia. Sara and her husband make a controversial decision to make a test-tube baby. A child that will be a perfect match to Kate for bone marrow transplants, blood transplants, and ultimately a kidney transplant. Abigail Breslin plays that child, Anna Fitzgerald. Anna is tired of being a human pin-cushion for her sister. Anna travels to meet with a lawyer, Campbell Alexander (played sarcastically and yet touchingly by Alec Baldwin.) She doesn't have enough money to pay for his legal fees, yet he takes the case anyways.

From the get-go you know that this is going to be a movie where the audience will obviously feel saddened by the situation. Yet not once do they play on that. They don't force you to feel sorry for Kate and her family's situation. I love how the narratives of the film switch between each family member. They each get their own alloted time, much like a set of vignettes in a play, to say their side of the story and how this whole ordeal is affecting them.

It's just like Kate said, this affects her family more than it affects her. Her mother was an attorney but was forced to quit her job to take care of her dying daughter, whom was suppose to be dead at the age of 5 but is still alive due to her sister's numerous donations. Her brother went unnoticed for most of his life, they didn't even know he was dyslexic until much later into his life. The dad works as a fireman still, and I could tell that he felt that his job was taking away from him being with his daughter. Sara's sister basically lives with them also, and is with them constantly to help and support them through these troubled times.

Each scene is touching in its own way, building up to the incredibly sad, yet heart-warming climax. Kate wants to die. She wants to die for a multitude of reasons. She wants to be with her long lost love. She wants to free her mother from the burden of seeing only hospitals, and sick people, and dialysis devices. She wants her mother to experience the world, to live as she was unable to because of her constant watching-over of her daughter. Kate doesn't want her sister to be in pain anymore, to go through all of these hospital procedures and poking and prodded with needles, just to save her life. Kate is probably one of the most self-less characters i've ever seen in a movie. Everything she does is from her out, and everything she does is for her family.

There were some very slow parts in the movie, and the brother doesn't get a lot of time to develop in the story. He runs away for a day or two but it's never explained why. I just assumed he couldn't handle it anymore, he needed some time to think about everything, he needed to let go.

Joan Cusack plays the Judge in charge of this whole debacle incredibly well. She had just lost her twelve-year-old daughter the year before to a drunk driver; this is her first case back. She feels sympathy for Anna. So does Campbell, we learn he took on the case because him, like Anna, is not in charge of his own body. He is epileptic, prone to seisures at any time. They both play their roles touchingly with a hint of humor.

The screenplay is good in that it's not obvious. It doesn't spell out anything for the audience and it doesn't force you to feel sad for the family's predicament, you already do.

There is a very heart-wrenching scene at the end where Kate knows that she is going to die, and she asks to be in the hospital room with her mother during her final hours. She talks to her mom and shows her a scrapbook that she's made with all her memories in it; a parting gift. Kate reminds her mom of a time when she was a kid and they sent her off to summer camp. She was so scared, so her mom comforted her by telling her to take the seat on the left-hand side of the bus so that she would be able to see her mom through the window as the bus left. Kate tells her mom that she'll take that same seat. Cameron Diaz gives her best performance here and breaks down to her daughter. Her daughter hugs her and falls asleep with her mother. It is then when we truly know that Cameron Diaz has accepted her daughter's fate. They both fall asleep on the hospital bed, and we learn that Kate died that night.

This is a movie where we learn, as Joan Cusack's character says,
"There is no shame in dying."

A-

A Review: Revolutionary Road

2009-06-25T21:23:00.000-04:00

A pretty picture about an ugly relationship.

Revolutionary Road is a film directed by Sam Mendes. When I think of Sam Mendes, I think of beautiful films about everyday life. He is somehow able to bring out a disturbing view on normality of everyday living of the American Life. I'm of course referring to American Beauty and now Revolutionary Road. Revolutionary Road stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio; before playing doomed lovers in this film they played as doomed lovers in Titanic.

Kate Winslet gives an amazing performance as April Wheeler, a woman torn between the path she knows is right, and the path she wishes to travel. She hates the fact that she has settled down and has assumed the role of the American Housewife. Did anyone else get the feeling that she secretly despised her kids? Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Wheeler. His performance was good, nothing award-worthy. He plays his character as a man who wants to change and do exciting things with his life, but is to tired to.

For some reason, I feel that having Hans Zimmer as the composer for this film would've made it infinitely times better. The music sometimes stood out to me, for the most part it didn't. It felt like generic dramatic film soundtrack. The music was very subtle and I feel it would've greatly improved the film if the music was very dramatic during Leo and Kate's arguments. Music in film is very important because it can change a whole film. A rule of thumb is you never want the music to overpower the film unless it's for a purpose.

A great example of film and it's soundtrack existing together perfectly would be Batman Begins, Notes on A Scandal (although the music ALMOST overpowered the film), Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code; basically anything resembling epic orchestra pieces. That type of soundtrack would've made this feel so much better, it would've amplified the normality and realisticness that Mendes was trying to show us in the film. It would've made each of the actor's moves and lines so much more alive and vibrant.

This film is shot very beautifully. The shot at the end where Kate Winslet has just given herself an abortion and is staring out the window is so haunting, it stuck with me even after the movie was over.

The script was very good. I loved how the detioration of April and Frank's relationship was played out. It was like watching a slow-motion car crash, and not being able to do anything about it. Throughout the film, the two main characters want to move to Paris; hopefully to start a new life and to do all the things they couldn't do after they had two children. Paris was their dream that was so close, yet incredibly far. I wonder what would've happened if they did go to Paris... would April have felt happy and full of life again? Was Paris really the answer to the problems in their marriage? Or was it the fact that they were both unable to accept the fact that they fell into the category of the American Dream, to which there was no escape?

Edit: How could I forgot to acknowledge Michael Shannon's amazing performance as Kathy Bate's son who has just returned from a stint in an Insane Asylum? He played the role perfectly. It could've easily been played as a Joker-esque type character. Shannon's performance was that of someone who isn't crazy, just ahead of his time.

A-

Life as Andrew

A Review: My Sister's Keeper.

A Review: Revolutionary Road