Review of “Things We Lost In The Fire” (2007) R 119min
March 14th, 2008 by Maxim · 2 Comments · 1,442 Views
The plot: After her husband (David Duchovny) died in a tragic accident, Audrey, his wife (Halle Berry) is trying to piece her life together and take care of her two kids. The house is falling apart without a man in it, and she turns for help to her husband’s childhood friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), who’s a recovering heroin addict. By leaning on each other they find a new place for themselves in life.
The good: Benicio Del Toro’s performance makes this movie a must-see. A pleasure to watch, especially when John Carroll Lynch playing a next door neighbor finds an unlikely friend in Benicio’s character, Brian. It seems that the Dutch director, Susanne Bier, knew exactly what she was doing: how to set every scene, how each actor should behave, what kind of light to use and how to shoot each scene. Nice closeups, but wide-angle shots made me feel awkward. Halle Berry’s performance was also pretty good (better then Catwoman for sure), a we can watch her go through all sorts of emotions. The kids in this movie, Alexis Llewellyn and Micah Berry (no relation to Halle), were also great.
The bad: David Duchovny is even worse an actor then Nicolas Cage, which makes him The Worst American Actor. He is always acting like he’s barely alive and talking like he’s on life support. Thankfully, his character died early in this movie. The story is not original – few details aside, it’s very reminiscent of another Halle Berry movie, The Monster Ball. Did not like the musical score, especially how the film goes without music for a long periods of time, then with the music, then a long-long-long pause again. Slow and long, which was probably intentional to make the audience feel the characters’ grief and despair, but it may bore some viewers. The movie feels thin at times.
The summary: good story and powerful performances make this movie worth your while. It’s sad, but not a depressing movie.
Halle Berry was nominated for Outstanding Actress Reward for her part in this movie.
Credits: Director – Susanne Bier | Written by Allan Loeb | Audrey Burke – Halle Berry, Jerry Sunborne – Benicio Del Toro, Brian Burke – David Duchovny, Harper Burke – Alexis Llewellyn, Dory Burke – Micah Berry, Howard Glassman – John Carroll Lynch, Kelly – Alison Lohman | Paramount Pictures
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Benicio Del Torro | David Duchovny | death | drug addition | Family | Halle Berry | title spoken by character | widow
2 responses so far ↓
1 Liz // Mar 15, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I’ve always thought Halle Berry was more suited to drama than over-the-top action. I’m not sure why she gave it more than one shot before returning to the genre that has served her best.
2 21 (2008) PG-13 123min | Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog // Mar 28, 2008 at 11:05 pm
[...] Things We Lost In The Fire (2007) R 119min [...]
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