Enjoy It While It Lasts
Project 365 here 365Pieces
Jun 18th, 2011 @ 1:56 am
Rabbit Hole
Here is my review of John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole.
So having seen the trailer for this (it follows a couple whose son has been killed in a car accident and how they cope with it) I was quite looking forward to it. Yeah, it seemed to be selling itself on the whole ~it’s going to be ok~ side of things but it still looked appealing to me.
I was surprised by how good this film was. I was the one who had wanted to see it but I didn’t anticipate seeing a movie that was as substantial as this.
The pivotal thing about Rabbit Hole is that it begins 8 months following the death of the couple’s (Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman - both fantastic) son. By starting so long after the initial shock we are shown a side of people’s grief that isn’t often shown in cinema. While I imagined that there wouldn’t be an incredibly cinematic quality to their 8-month-old grief, I was proven wrong. There’s a fantastic scene in their living room where they argue over a video of the child on the hudband’s phone and it is a sight to behold.
Another incredibly touching moment comes when Eckhart’s character cries into his dog’s coat. If this all sounds a bit heavy (and there’s no denying that it is) I still recommend watching this film. While it often feels a bit static and stagey (when a film is based on a play what can you expect though?), the themes of loss and grief are handled in surprisingly original and sometimes humourous (when they get high in the support group meeting) ways.
And even the ending, which could be seen as a cop-out, packs a considerable emotional punch. Hope is underrated.
3.5/5
