Supporting Victims: Joel Fuernsinn, Jeff Hunt
<There are some slight spoilers in the
review - it's hard to write this review without giving some stuff away. In a
nutshell - 8 on the Good Movie Scale for great acting and interesting
characters. we recommend this one if you're looking for a good movie to watch
but not if you're looking to be cheered.)
In the Bedroom opens with a young man and an older woman running in green
fields. The young man is Frank Fowler (Nick Stahl), a college student studying
architecture. The woman is Natalie Strout, played by Marisa Tomei, a mother with
two children. Later, on Frank's lobster boat, which he uses to make money during
the summer, Frank's father, played by Tom Wilkinson, explains to one of
Natalie's sons about lobster behavior - that three lobsters in the same trap
will fight each other and that the female lobster can be the most vicious of
them all. With that bit of foreshadowing, we're introduced to the third member
of that mix, Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother), who we
discover to be a violent and cruel man who dislikes Frank tremendously. Ruth
Fowler (Sissy Spacek) can sense that danger is imminent but is dissuaded by both
father and son from taking any action. Finally, in the aftermath of some fairly
predictable (and, in my mind, wholly avoidable) events, we're left with a dark
movie and how people deal with the aftermath of a tragedy.
The film uses numerous literary devices and images that help to underscore and foreshadow the story - a turnstile bridge, dark woods, the atonal chorus of Eastern European folk music, and a poem by Longfellow -
"There are things of which I may not
speak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak;
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
And a mist before the eye
And the words of that fatal song
Come over me like a chill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."
Wilkinson and Spacek have both been nominated for Best Acting Oscars and
rightfully so. They bring a solid and articulated portrayal of two parents but
who express their emotions in very different directions. Also turning in a solid
acting performance is Tomei who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
There's a lot to watch in this complex movie and all of it has been excellently crafted. However, it is a difficult movie to watch, not just because of the subject. There are many "small room" moments that can make you very uncomfortable. It's the same feeling you get when you're in a gathering where a couple clearly has some unresolved issues that they are choosing to air in public by sniping at each other instead of talking it through in private. You want to leave the room to give them some privacy but at the same time, you want to know how the argument resolves. And so it is with "In the Bedroom"; you know that the characters are headed towards a resolution but getting there requires you to suffer a bit of discomfort. The discomfort comes in the form of those relentless waves of grief and depression illuminated through the many scenes, often without dialogue. In a typical Hollywood movie, when a character dies, there is a moment of death, a funeral, and then life moves forward again with a cut scene. In this movie, the emptiness left by that death resonates through every scene and we're taken through the days, weeks, and months, after the funeral. It's a very stark portrayal of tragic grief so great that it could not be assuaged by the catharsis that a funeral or memorial offers. Watching the suffering of the characters can leave you shifting in your seat wishing and hoping that they could move on somehow.
Very good moviemaking not only tells a good story but helps the audience to empathize or react to the characters and that is what we see here. We give "In the Bedroom" an 8 out of 10 for a well-written story and the very excellent portrayals of the characters.
