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MOVIE CRITIQUE:
If you have yet to hear anything about this small movie, then you will have heard it here first: An Oscar nomination for
Best Actress for Sissy Spacek, an Oscar nomination for Tom Wilkinson for Best Actor, and an Oscar nomination for "In
the Bedroom" for Best Picture. Yes, this movie is THAT good!
And the fact that Miramax is one of the film's distributors only adds to the certainty that this movie will be justly
rewarded come next March. Miramax doesn't have a history of backing losers or distributing junk films.
"In the Bedroom" is not a light movie and it is not a fun movie, but it is an honest movie and the portraits
in it are absolutely searing in their honesty and truth and conviction and feeling. When the theater lights go back on after
two hours and ten minutes, you will have the feeling as I did that this movie is something special.
It's a small movie that will not make it to every theater screen, but if it is showing anywhere near you, please take
my advice and make the extra effort to see it. The power of this movie will be lost on the small tv screen, so do not wait
for this cinematic gem to show up at your video rental counter.
While "In the Bedroom" is tense and dark, it is NOT painful or boring. Something this incredibly beautiful by
definition cannot be boring.
You will have the pleasure of seeing a truly extraordinary movie if you make the effort to see "In the Bedroom"!
Admirably directed by Todd Field, who also co-wrote the screenplay adapted from a short story by Andre Dubus. Don't miss it!
Please do not miss this movie!
MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
All the action takes place in and around a small, down-at-its-heels ocean-side town called Camden, but not the one in
New Jersey. Instead the smaller, but equally hard-scrabble, town in Maine. Daily life is filled with the sound of the Lobster
boats going in and out of the picturesque bay at the head of which sits Camden. Earlier generations of lobster fishermen with
their larger catches were much luckier than those of today where the catches are puny by comparison. Modest white clapboard
homes line the town streets of Camden and the neighbors all know each other.
Some of the earlier lobster fishermen had amassed enough money to send their children off to college in an effort to get
them away from the difficult and dangerous life on the boats. Matt Fowler's dad was such a fisherman. He sent Matt away to
college and now he is the town's doctor. Dr. Fowler (Tom Wilkinson) has been married to Ruth (Sissy Spacek) for many years.
They dote on their only son, Frank (Nick Stahl), who is graduating from college and has applied to several graduate schools
to obtain a degree in architecture.
Matt loves his son, but more than that he envies his son and lives life vicariously through observing Frank's daily life
as a student on summer break. Frank works daily as a lobster fisherman and has made almost enough money to buy his own boat.
He enjoys his work to the point that he sometimes wonders about taking a year off from school in order to spend the fall season
fishing for lobsters.
His dad, Matt, who spends his days behind a desk as a doctor, romanticizes Frank's life to the point that he comes down
to the docks every day during his lunch hour to spend some time with his son on the boat.
There is something else that Matt envies Frank for... The movie opens as Frank and his girlfriend run over the beach grass
past a deserted cottage to fall down among the dunes in a rapturous embrace. This is the happiest, most carefree moment of
the movie. The young lovers don't know it yet, but it is all downhill from here.
Frank's lover is a young mother living in their modest neighborhood. Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei) has two young children
and is in the process of divorcing her ne'er-do-well husband, Richard (William Mapother), the son of a well-to-do manufacturing
family in Camden. Their marriage has fallen apart after ten or so years due to his abusive behavior.
Needless to say, Natalie is quite a bit older and much more experienced than Frank. She loves his tenderness, his intelligence,
his freshness, and his curiosity about life. He loves her for her obvious feminine charms and for her attention and sexuality.
It is obvious that they have a passionate, (though unseen) romantic relationship. Natalie is another reason Frank is
thinking about taking a year off from college.
Needless to say, their relationship fills Matt with pride and envy as well that his young son is now involved with an
older woman. Matt and Frank bring Natalie's young son out with them for a day of lobstering. She also brings her children
to the neighborhood barbecue behind the Fowler home held to celebrate her son's birthday. All the other men at the barbeque
wistfully eye Natalie and fondly remember the romantic days of their youth.
Matt's wife, Ruth, does not share his affection for Natalie. Oh, she is cordial and friendly with her, but beneath the
surface she is plainly worried for her son. Women like this, no matter how wonderful they are, can be trouble for a young
man with collegiate plans. Her complaints to Matt go unregistered and her questions to Frank always get shut down with his
perennial refrain, "Mom, we aren't going to talk about this NOW, are we?" Like all teenagers and post-teenagers,
he is having too much fun to step back and observe the potential consequences of his involvement with this much older woman.
Then a chill quickly fills the air as Natalie's soon-to-be ex-husband, Richard, suddenly shows up at the barbeque. He
wasn't expected to be there and clearly was not invited. Natalie is very uncomfortable as she doesn't want to make a scene
in front of his children. Richard excuses his appearance by saying that he only wanted to wish his son a happy birthday.
Richard's appearance sets Ruth on edge as she clearly suspects trouble to follow shortly. And she's right. Shortly thereafter
Frank comes home with a black eye. All Matt is interested in is, "Did you get a good punch in?" All Ruth is interested
in is when this looming nightmare is going to stop. She wants to call the police, but Frank begs her not to as he doesn't
want the arrival of the police cars to frighten Natalie's children, who have just gone to bed.
Several days later Frank and Natalie are upstairs in her house when they see Richard's truck suddenly pull up. Franks
rushes to lock the front door, but Richard beats him to the rear door. Natalie is rushing downstairs when she hears a gunshot.
Running into the living room, she sees her lover on the floor dead with a bullet through his eye and Richard standing there
with a smoking gun...
Matt and Ruth are devastated. Frank was their only child and now he's gone. And all the promise that he had is now lost
forever as well. They retreat into a self-imposed exile with only their close friends, Willis Grinnell (William Wise) and
Katie Grinnel (Celia Weston) to comfort them. Willis and Matt have been best friends since their days together in the Navy.
They invite the Fowlers to come up to their vacation retreat to recover.
Slowly, Dr. Fowler returns to his life as the town doctor and Ruth returns to her career as the choral director for the
local grade school. But each lives in a shell of anger and resentment over the loss of their son.
Their life worsens as Richard's potential murder one charge is reduced to manslaughter as he claims that Frank pushed
him. Natalie is forced to admit to not seeing the actual altercation, if any. Then Richard's parents put their business up
as security for bail and now Richard is free to walk the streets of Camden with a trial not set for another eight or ten months.
Ruth is forced to look at Frank walk down the street free as a bird while her son lies buried in the church cemetery.
Each parent becomes a boiling cauldron ready to explode. Sissy Spacek absolutely blew me away with her dead-on portrayal
of a mother in anguish. You just know that something is going to happen! Her every nuance of a facial expression is acting
perfection personnified. What an acting sensation! What an actress! The director, Todd Field, spends much of this movie making
a study of Ruth's face in absolute silence. You can feel her pain. You can really feel her pain!
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