Friday, March 7, 2008

Lives After The Fire


A good thing about DVDs, Netflix, and cable, is that they can give a mid-budget, high and/or well-intented and executed dramas a second life outside of their initial run. Things We Lost In The Fire is the story of navigating sudden widowhood. Halle Barry is left with two adorable moppets, and a beautiful house. But she chooses also to involve her husband's junkie best friend (Benicio Del Toro) into her landscape of grief. Why did she do this? To get closer to that part of her husband (David Duchovny) that she couldn't be a part of?

Danish Suzanne Bier has directed a dozen films, but this is her first production in the US. She is not afraid of the extreme closeup. There must be at least a dozen or so times that the frame is filled with nothing but eyeball, lips or fingers. She also uses a lot of mise en scene master shots, especially in the NA meeting sequences to show addicts trying to cope with their addictions and transitions. There is a confidence and competence in her direction that is one of the elements that keeps this film from being a grittier version of a Lifetime movie. (Of which there is actually a joke included in the film)

Another big asset is the film is the acting. Particularly Del Toro who is introduced in a scene where the bald goofy stock character neighbor bums a cigarette from him and then throws it away when he is given the stink eye from his wife. Benicio bends down and scoops up what's left of the smoke in a junkie sweep that speaks loads about the character, his discomfort with his setting and situation.

I could do some trashing about a flaw here or some phoniness there, but it would detract from the best way to interact with this film, which is to just ride with it because there is some exceptional acting, especially from Del Toro and some great moments of emotional truth of lives that have fallen off the tracks and are looking to get back en route beyond loss and accept the good in the process. There are certainly lamer ways to spend a couple hours and I'm not just talking about movies on Lifetime.
posted by well-executed buffet at 8:35 PM
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