(8) Movie Review

According to the ‘Making of My Left Foot’ segment on the Special Edition DVD, Daniel Day-Lewis broke two ribs during filming from assuming the hunched-over position in his wheelchair throughout the shoot. He also refused to come out of character until the cameras stopped rolling.

Another twice-removed thoroughbred from the Irish film stable. (Saoirse Ronan’s in it, ok?)

THE LOVELY BONES

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli

Running time: 2hrs 19mins

It started as a novel. And a great one, at that. Alice Sebold introduced us to ‘The Lovely Bones’ as far back as 2002, and, ever since, it’s been scarred to memory, filed away as a terrific, if disturbing read. I can, however, remember thinking how on earth someone could adapt this to the big screen. Here’s why.

Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) is murdered on her way home from school in 1973. The book forces our flesh against the horror of the rape, the murder. But the film shies away. It happens off screen, more implied than anything else. (A decision made with a younger audience in mind, say critics). For the remainder of the story, Susie is trapped outside of the looking glass. She’s in a heaven, of sorts. The afterlife’s departure lounge, which looks a lot like a gumdrop coloured hobbit shire; a magnificent place where the laws of physics no longer apply, and magic seems the lifeblood of the grass, the trees, the birds and so on and so on. It’s striking. Dream-like. Like life in high definition. But, sadly, it contrasts a touch too heavily with the bleak, tragic reality of the rushing storm surge that is the story line.

Remember, there’s a murder to be solved. A father (Mark Walhlberg) who refuses to give up the ghost, hell-bent on finding the truth. A killer (Stanley Tucci) who, complete with a hopeless comb-over and Marx Brothers moustache, is in plain view from the beginning. A mother (Rachel Weisz) who’s out of her depth, drowning in the debris of her daughter’s death. And, for comic effect (I think?), a boozy granny (Susan Sarandon) who seems part thespian, part burlesque dancer. Alone, they’re all adrift, lost. But, somehow, Susie can communicate from that oh-so-scenic afterlife. Not in words, you understand. Or even in thoughts. But, still, she manages to guide their hand, plotting a course for the truth and hoping upon hope it’s not all lost in otherworldly translation.

So, the verdict. Is it worth watching? Well, in my opinion, yes it is. And the trick is not to get hung up on the microscopic details, the minute errors which can spoil a cinematic experience if you let it. Take the wardrobe, for example. It’s all too deliberate. Checked shirts, perfectly flaired trousers, platform shoes, hair long enough to knit a rope – it’s almost as if Jackson travelled back in time, stripped the cast of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ and slipped their gear on to wardrobe hangers when no one was looking . There’s also the sore-thumb, “did she stumble on to the wrong set?” oddity of Susan Sarandon’s character to deal with. Not to mention Jackson’s attempt to deliver the darkest of plotlines in the lightest of ways.

Again, though, these are footnotes. Afterthoughts. "Atonement's" terrific Ronan, with her astonishing glacier-blue eyes, is almost flawless as the lead - and coupled with Stanley Tucci’s jolting, honestly unsettling performance as the devil incarnate, they lay on more than enough tension, drama and intensity to make the running time breeze by. Add to that one of the world’s most accomplished directors in Peter Jackson, and, despite what you may have heard, this is a film worthy of your attention. It’s not perfect. It’s unlikely to slow-burn its way to modern-classic status. But it entertains. And, for me, that’s the main ingredient.