I really wanted to like In The Bedroom. Fine performances from the whole cast, most notably Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei, and the whole thing seemed so believable. It was difficult to watch the first half hour, 45 minutes because they were doing such a good job making the Poor Dead Boy so likable and you just knew he was going to be killed, so you didn't want to get attached. And yes, it was uncomfortably slow for almost the entire movie, but I think it was supposed to be that way. The movie starts out passing like long, slow days of summer, then it seems to lose all momentum and curl up into a fetal position for an hour or so, which does an excellent job of reflecting the desires of the main couple. It really adds to the experience when you can hear people talking in the halls outside the theater -- they're living their lives while you're not, and you want to be, but not badly enough to actually get up and do something about it. You are forced to be Sissy Spacek. It's not a pleasant experience, but I think it is right that it happens the way it does. The direction is excellent, lots of storytelling through casual details, like a shot with Marisa Tomei talking to her ex-husband, and it's clear in the frame that he still wears his ring while she doesn't even have a tan line anymore. Subtle and effective. Also, in the grieving scenes, all the characters do more communicating with facial expressions or simple tasks like mowing lawns or doing other chores, and it makes it painfully clear that they're trying to deny their grief. You want them to stop piddling around with the stupid lawnmower and talk about any guilt feelings they might have, but they don't, and you can't make them, much like the situation would be in real life. All of this, while uncomfortable, makes In The Bedroom a marvelous film.
The end ruins everything, though. What could have been a serious and thoughtful piece worthy of viewing as a mandatory component of grief counseling becomes a mind-bogglingly inappropriate revenge crime drama. Because while we the audience had been thinking we were watching the story of how a couple deals with their son's death, we had instead been watching the story of his murder, which changes the situation significantly. While the last half hour or so serves to provide the only action in the film (all the violence in the beginning is off-screen, and it works really well that way, forcing the viewer to admit that he is not the heroic elf having the romance with the beautiful and fragile woman, he is instead a helpless bystander, like the parents, and later their friends), it just feels tacky. Why bother trying to learn to help those who are grieving if revenge is the only thing that works (not that it necessarily does, I think the very end is somewhat ambiguous)? Why sit through a practically silent movie in a silent movie theater (and I found that the audience around me was respectful enough of the subject matter and the style to sit quietly for almost the entire time) if the end makes you feel like you stepped into the low-budget stepchild of the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick playing down the hall? I would not recommend this film to anyone who lacks a specific need to properly grieve or assist someone else in the grieving process, and even for those people, I recommend walking out when the movie makes its abrupt change of tone.
The end ruins everything, though. What could have been a serious and thoughtful piece worthy of viewing as a mandatory component of grief counseling becomes a mind-bogglingly inappropriate revenge crime drama. Because while we the audience had been thinking we were watching the story of how a couple deals with their son's death, we had instead been watching the story of his murder, which changes the situation significantly. While the last half hour or so serves to provide the only action in the film (all the violence in the beginning is off-screen, and it works really well that way, forcing the viewer to admit that he is not the heroic elf having the romance with the beautiful and fragile woman, he is instead a helpless bystander, like the parents, and later their friends), it just feels tacky. Why bother trying to learn to help those who are grieving if revenge is the only thing that works (not that it necessarily does, I think the very end is somewhat ambiguous)? Why sit through a practically silent movie in a silent movie theater (and I found that the audience around me was respectful enough of the subject matter and the style to sit quietly for almost the entire time) if the end makes you feel like you stepped into the low-budget stepchild of the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick playing down the hall? I would not recommend this film to anyone who lacks a specific need to properly grieve or assist someone else in the grieving process, and even for those people, I recommend walking out when the movie makes its abrupt change of tone.
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