final verdict for: "Grace Is Gone" (2007): this is one of those lucky picks, where you look at dvd's and buy something just because it looks interestingly different and find a treasure in disguise.
The plot is quickly summarized. John Cussack (with really odd glasses) receives message that his wife, an army official in Iraq, has been killed in combat and the rest of the movie more or less deals with his struggle to find a way to tell his two daughters. The plot itself however, is not what makes this movie so remarkeable.
John Cusack is one of those actors that quickly get overlooked for their roles in titles like "2012" (2009), despite their ability to truly excel if put in the right roles. In this movie he is right at home and the last time I saw him at home was, to be honest, in "Room 1408" (2007) and it seems to have gone downhill for him from there. In "Grace is Gone" however, he is at the height of his performing skills. You buy his character as the devastated and insecure father and widower right away.
Same can be said about the daughters who are truly performing in a very natural manner, at least on par if not more natural than Elle Fanning's performance in "Somewhere" (2010). Even minor characters, like Cusack's brother is in his role like he had never played anyone else in his life.
The camera work is truly remarkeable for a film that is shot outdoors for the most part as well. As many of you know, I am no big friend of the shakey cam and most films with outdoor sequences feature the shakey cam. Not this one. Or if it did it was so well masqued that I did not realize.
Similarly to "The Virgin Suicides" (1999) this movie uses color filters to warm the colors up and give it a vintage look. Whereas Coppola found a really subtle way to apply the color filters in her movie, James C. Strouse, this movie's director somehow overdid it. It still looks beautiful and is very fitting for the over-all atmosphere, but it feels forced at times, somehow too much.
The editing is remarkeable as well and one can't help but look to Sofia Coppola's films again, which might have served as an inspiration for the post-production design of "Grace is Gone", which is not a bad thing by all means. After all Coppola is one of the best in her subgenre (or category) and truly mastered editing and post-processing techniques so that they become the icing on the cake. This "borrowed" design plays a great part in creating this movie's athmosphere.
The last thing that constitutes a major contribution to the feel of the movie is the music and one finds a big surprise when looking up the responsible person: Clint Eastwood. Even though I do not know if he composed any pieces or just found and arranged fitting songs, it has to be acknowledged what an outstanding job he did. There is not a single piece of music in this film that does not feel right in place.
I will not go into a philosophical debate about this one. How you like this movie is very much dependant on how much you can empathize with the situation and the characters. For me it was also a sentimental thing, because the places they visit look so much like place I have been to in the past. Nonetheless it is a great movie and if you stumble upon it somewhere, you should give it a watch and decide for yourself whether the Sundance Film Award that Strouse received is deserved or not.
As far as I am concerned, the answer is a clear "Yes! 8 out of 10!".
The plot is quickly summarized. John Cussack (with really odd glasses) receives message that his wife, an army official in Iraq, has been killed in combat and the rest of the movie more or less deals with his struggle to find a way to tell his two daughters. The plot itself however, is not what makes this movie so remarkeable.
John Cusack is one of those actors that quickly get overlooked for their roles in titles like "2012" (2009), despite their ability to truly excel if put in the right roles. In this movie he is right at home and the last time I saw him at home was, to be honest, in "Room 1408" (2007) and it seems to have gone downhill for him from there. In "Grace is Gone" however, he is at the height of his performing skills. You buy his character as the devastated and insecure father and widower right away.
Same can be said about the daughters who are truly performing in a very natural manner, at least on par if not more natural than Elle Fanning's performance in "Somewhere" (2010). Even minor characters, like Cusack's brother is in his role like he had never played anyone else in his life.
The camera work is truly remarkeable for a film that is shot outdoors for the most part as well. As many of you know, I am no big friend of the shakey cam and most films with outdoor sequences feature the shakey cam. Not this one. Or if it did it was so well masqued that I did not realize.
Similarly to "The Virgin Suicides" (1999) this movie uses color filters to warm the colors up and give it a vintage look. Whereas Coppola found a really subtle way to apply the color filters in her movie, James C. Strouse, this movie's director somehow overdid it. It still looks beautiful and is very fitting for the over-all atmosphere, but it feels forced at times, somehow too much.
The editing is remarkeable as well and one can't help but look to Sofia Coppola's films again, which might have served as an inspiration for the post-production design of "Grace is Gone", which is not a bad thing by all means. After all Coppola is one of the best in her subgenre (or category) and truly mastered editing and post-processing techniques so that they become the icing on the cake. This "borrowed" design plays a great part in creating this movie's athmosphere.
The last thing that constitutes a major contribution to the feel of the movie is the music and one finds a big surprise when looking up the responsible person: Clint Eastwood. Even though I do not know if he composed any pieces or just found and arranged fitting songs, it has to be acknowledged what an outstanding job he did. There is not a single piece of music in this film that does not feel right in place.
I will not go into a philosophical debate about this one. How you like this movie is very much dependant on how much you can empathize with the situation and the characters. For me it was also a sentimental thing, because the places they visit look so much like place I have been to in the past. Nonetheless it is a great movie and if you stumble upon it somewhere, you should give it a watch and decide for yourself whether the Sundance Film Award that Strouse received is deserved or not.
As far as I am concerned, the answer is a clear "Yes! 8 out of 10!".
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