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by jim

Todd Field's brutal and breathtaking dramatic thriller is easily the most emotionally involving film I've seen this year. His characters and scenes are so true, so engrossing, that he really allows you to step inside the minds and hearts of the Fowler friends and family that make up the landscape of this tragic tale. You are not seeing highlights of a story, you see it all. The script is so insistent on including the tiny details that make up everyday life, such as when two friends get food in a restaurant and realize that their similar orders have been placed in front of the wrong person or when you are trying to have an important conversation with someone who's working and they are constantly interrupted by the demands of their job, that when the major things happen it seems that much more startling. That much more important, that much worse.

IN THE BEDROOM introduces us to Dr. Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek), a successful and loving older couple and their collegiant son, Frank (Nick Stahl). Frank is a gifted aspiring architect, who's passions are torn between his brilliant future and a simple life as a New England lobsterman, complete with loving family. Frank even has the ready-made family lined up. The older woman he has been dating (Marisa Tomei) has two kids and is in the process of an unpleasant divorce. It is hard to review this film without giving away important plot points. Points that I hope everyone has the privilege of watching unfold before them, new and intrusive. Field does a masterful job of lulling the viewer in with the averageness of everyday life, only to rip that comfort from them and send them to another place with his characters. His static camera work, long, slow, two shots and minimal cuts makes the times when he drastically moves his camera that much more frenetic and frightening. He uses hauntingly few "creative" shots. The majority of the film looks as though it could have been shot by first time directors, but only in the most deliberate sense. You never feel like you are watching a movie, but experiencing a life.

The film makes you think about the loss of human life as more than just a horrible accident or a cruel act. You see it as not just a friend or loved one you will miss, but as the death of ideas and the death of plans. The thing about BEDROOM is that all the major characters have something, some passion, some spark, something that makes them so important. Without revealing exactly who is lost we can see the what the world would lack with the passing of each of the leads: the supportive father and family doctor; the loving, overprotective mother, also an enthusiast for Eastern European classical music (the cryptic tones of which lay a perfect backdrop to the action); the bright eyed and optimistic young student; the beaten, but hopeful young mother. Not a one could be lost without destroying the world. BEDROOM explores issues ranging from death to coping to blame to battery to revenge. All of the range of human emotion.

The cast brings to life Robert Festinger's screenplay so immaculately, that it is hard to separate even the most familiar faces from their characters in the film. While most of the awards attention has been flooded towards Sissy Spacek, the true heart of the piece lies with Tom Wilkinson's understated and earnest performance. The veteran actor gives such a heartbreaking performance as the joyfully suffering father that his every on screen moment offers the promise of something beautiful. Spacek is intense and overbearing as the bitter and difficult mother. Marisa Tomei is perfect as the abused and caring parent. Tomei has almost vanished from the public eye in recent years and resurfaces here a new actress. There is so much living behind her eyes, that her every scene demands close attention. The only unfortunate element of the film is the appearance of William Mapother. His surprisingly deep performance is muted by his look-at-me-I'm-the-bad-guy hair and costume.

BEDROOM is involving, engrossing and moving. It is one of the few films I have seen of late that I truly say is important to see and should not be missed.

YEP

by pat

jim pretty much covered it, so I can't really think of much to add. There was a trailer for the new Dana Carvey movie beforehand. Who thought that was a good idea? Not just giving Dana Carvey a new movie, but putting it before a downbeat drama Oscar contender. That's like hyping "Sense & Sensibility" before "Freddy Got Fingered." We're talking demographics here. The only other thing I can think of is, wouldn't it have been cool to get some folk-type singer, like Edie Brickell or Aimee Mann to do a cover of "In the Ghetto," only change it to "In the Bedroom?" That probably would've sucked, but I like pretending I'm clever for thinking of it.