R W
Posts: 268
Joined: 23/6/2006
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Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Screenwriter: David Lindsay-Abaire
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller, Sandra Oh
Synopsis
Eight months following the death of their son, life for happy couple Becca and Howie (Kidman and Eckhart) has not been easy-going.
Review
When you think of films that dealt with the loss of a child, you would primarily think of classic and recent horror films like Don’t Look Now and Antichrist. Although if you’re going to compare the new film starring Nicole Flirting Kidman, it’s more in the vein of Todd Field’s dramatic and superior In the Bedroom.
Dissimilar to his previous outlandish work, director John Cameron Mitchell tackles the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire (Doubt), which featured Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon and Mad Men’s Tony Slattery. With a production credit by Nicole Kidman who first approached the idea of adapting the play, there is a sense throughout the film that it is an actors’ piece, in which actors get to play characters who moan and self-absorbed to the point they become hateable.
With Rabbit Hole which is about a couple coping with the death of their son, the film does trip into sequences in which characters are having ridiculous arguments with one another, particularly between Becca and her annoying sister. Also, there is a contrived subplot involving Becca encountering a young boy who actually was involved in the son’s death. This seems to be a way of cranking up the high drama, but to no greater good.
Taking its roots from a stage play, there are moments which are too familiar to a play as oppose to film, but Mitchell manages to orchestrate images that are lyrical and tragic, particularly standalone scenes featuring the two stars.
Although she is nominated for the upcoming Oscars, Nicole Kidman is playing a somewhat awkward protagonist, in as much as she thinks her word is the one that matters, as well as expresses herself in the wrong places. She does approach this role with likability, but her performance is one of “for your consideration”.
With Kidman who seems to get all the praise, Aaron Eckhart does have the edge to make the film works, even if everything else fails. Identified with his lack of emotion in his back catalogue, Eckhart’s trademark acting is displayed here as he provides a ferocious performance as a man whose love for his dead son is strong, it is painful for him to let go. As for Dianne Wiest, she does the best performance of the whole film as Becca’s childlike mother who is coping with the death of her son, but unlike her daughter, she blames no one.
Verdict
Although one might whisper the three words towards the film: “For your consideration”, there are nice performances and enough interesting ideas to make the flaws secondary.
< Message edited by R W -- 4/2/2011 8:56:27 PM >
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