Reservation Road (2007) – on rental. I added this film into my rental queue a couple of weeks ago in the aftermath of the tragic Air France Flight AF447 as it was a show about dealing with grief.
What’s the story about? A family of four suffers a tragic loss in a hit-and-run car accident; Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and Grace (Jennifer Connelly)’s 10 year old son Josh is killed by a vehicle driven by Dwight (Mark Ruffalo), a divorcee who is racing his son home to his estranged wife. Perhaps both shocked and also not wanting to lose his visitation rights to his son if imprisoned, he doesn’t stop when he knocks down Josh.
Ethan, Grace and their (“Very cute!!” said Ling) daughter Emma played by Elle Fanning, the younger of the two famous Fanning sisters each deal with their grief in different ways. Emma turns to the performing arts, and Grace after an initial period where she’s inconsolable tries to move on.
Ethan however becomes obsessed with finding who the driver is when the police solve the crime, which in turns threatens to tear his family apart. In a twist, Ethan hires a lawyer who turns out to be Dwight in order to find then prosecute the person he calls a murderer. Ethan eventually discovers who drove the vehicle that night in a gigantic leap of story logic – the film’s weakest point – and in the dramatic climax, the huge emotions and anguish in each person is brought to the surface in the show-down.
The early scenes of grief are painful to watch – the tears feel very real, and it was hard not to reach for tissue paper during the moving church scene honoring Josh. Dwight himself is guilt-ridden, and wants to do the right thing by turning in but just can’t bring himself to do it.
It’s a mostly talky show too with no violence (until the end), and is quite different from say Jodie Foster’s The Brave One which was of somewhat similar premise. The substantial middle act thus could be a little slow for some.
Sob-filled drama and just plain said. Not for every one.
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