The Lovely Bones Review [2]

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 12.25.2009

Can Peter Jackson still make magic when he steps back from mega budget blockbusters and tackle more mature subject matter.

Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens based on the novel by Alice Sebold

Cast
Saoirse Ronan ... Susie Salmon
Rachel Weisz ... Abigail Salmon
Mark Wahlberg ... Jack Salmon
Susan Sarandon ... Grandma Lynn
Stanley Tucci ... George Harvey
Amanda Michalka ... Clarissa
Jake Abel ... Brian Nelson
Rose McIver ... Lindsey Salmon
Michael Imperioli ... Len Fenerman
Reece Ritchie ... Ray Singh
Nikki SooHoo ... Holly




Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language.


This year my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world. Before that, a story like The Lovely Bones would have been tough to take. Since I have started watching my son grow, this story takes on a whole new meaning. The Lovely Bones completely devastated me and remained with me long after leaving the theater.

Adapted from the fantastic novel by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones tells the story of Susie Salmon, a fourteen year old girl who is raped and murdered by a local man named Mr. Harvey. Her body is never found and her murderer never captured. Susie ends up in what she refers to as an “in-between world ... the blue horizon between Heaven and Earth.” It is here that she remains, along with another young girl named Holly, and watches as her family, and her murderer, attempt to deal with her disappearance in their own ways.

When my wife and I left the theater she told me she wanted to get to her mom’s house as quick as we could so she could regain our son and asked if I would mind if she sat in the back seat with him all the way home. It is not the special effects critics have been whining about that make this movie. It is not the non-mystery of the murder that makes this movie worth watching. It is the effect the disappearance of a parent’s oldest child has on their psyches and the way each individual, from the younger sister to the grandmother to the handsome young man who liked her, deals with their loss.

Ignore the special effects and the changes from the source novel because The Lovely Bones is a beautiful and heart wrenching picture for anyone who has children of their own.

Saoirse Ronan, the fifteen year old actress who has already been nominated once for an Oscar for her role in Atonement, comes out of this movie continuing to fulfill her promise as one of Hollywood’s top young actresses. She delivers so much emotion with only her eyes and is able to carry difficult scenes like a seasoned pro. Director Peter Jackson makes strong use of her brilliant blue eyes with close-ups and allows them to help show innocence lost, hopes and dreams dashed, and family lost. Ronan is able to turn from the curious observations of an awkward teenager to the horror and fear of a child in the flick of a switch. Without a strong performance from Ronan, nothing about Susie’s story would have resonated as well. She is amazing in this movie.

Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz are hit and miss throughout the movie but their characters represent the different ways a person deals with the loss of a loved one. Wahlberg is his strongest when he is most determined as Jack, the father who promises his daughter that one day all his model ships in bottles will be hers. It is a silly promise, evident by the look in Susie’s eyes when he reveals this. But the love this father has for his daughter hit me the hardest when he finally breaks down and destroys everything they built together over the years. While Wahlberg starts the movie off a bit awkwardly he finishes strong and helps build his character into someone you are willing to follow into an empty corn field, looking for clues.

Rachel Weisz is a harder character to pin down. Her character, the mother Abigail, is the person who has the hardest time accepting the death of her child and, as a result, locks her emotions deep inside, refusing to let the pain out. Weisz is given the hardest role to play and the script makes her character the weakest in the film. There is a point where she leaves her family, to sort things out on her own, and you lose sympathy for her. They have two other children, yet she shuts them out because her oldest is gone. It is something horrible, yet realistic, and Weisz is only given limited time to help you understand why she chooses these actions. It is a problem with the script, not the actress, but it is a stumbling block that threatens the movie as a whole.

In a smaller role, Susan Sarandon is amazing in this film. She is Abigail’s mother, someone who smokes, drinks and is brought in to help the family heal. It is a ridiculous assumption this woman can help anyone, but every time she is on camera, the movie lights up and starts to crackle. She is the light in an otherwise dark film.

That darkness is aided by the amazing cinematography by Andrew Lesnie, Jackson’s DP from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie takes place in 1973 and stretches out over the years following Susie’s death. The choice Jackson makes with the film is similar to the decision David Fincher used for Zodiac. He not only uses everything possible to make it look like the era but also uses coloring techniques that make the actual film look like it was shot in the sixties and seventies. The film is dull and muted at points and, while it took me a little bit to get used to the antiquated look, it grew on me over time. This choice makes the film look more realistic than most period pieces I have seen.

The footage only moves away from this classic film look when we enter Susie’s “other world” where everything becomes glossy, bright and beautiful. The greens and yellows are abundant here and it is clear to me this is what a little girl’s idea of heaven, or her afterlife, would look like. The only times the in-between world changes are when she enters the life of her killer, and then it becomes dark black or bright white and very haunting.

This brings me to be best addition of the film - Stanley Tucci as the child murderer, Mr. Harvey. Tucci has always been a quirky actor in my eyes. My fondest memories of him are as bureaucratic figures (Swing Vote, America’s Sweethearts) or strangely idiocentric figures (The Devil Wears Prada, What Just Happened). Tucci is said to have almost turned down this role because of how dark the character is but I am glad he changed his mind. In my opinion, Tucci has joined Christopher Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) as a front runner for Best Supporting Actor following this performance.

Tucci plays Mr. Harvey as a lonely, quiet and dangerous man. He builds dollhouses and routinely stands at the window of his house or in his car in the garage and just watches as the children pass his home. He could be anyone, anywhere at any time and is a real life monster, one that can live in your neighborhood or mine. He is good at putting on a false face for those adults who surround him but can flick a switch and become deadly dangerous at any given moment. He is the scariest of monsters and Tucci not only brings him to life but does it in a way that I never once considered I was watching Stanley Tucci, the actor. He is unrecognizable throughout the film and delivers one of the best performances I have seen in a long time.

When the movie comes to an end, it is with the lesson that time will take care of its own mistakes. There are a number of ways this story could have ended and I understand some people may want to see the family get vengeance on the man who killed their little girl. That is not what The Lovely Bones is all about, and if it was I don’t think it would have resonated as strongly as it did with me. This story is about the healing process of people damaged by a tragic loss and about how the strong can persevere in the face of adversity. Don’t go into this movie looking for a mystery or an adventure tale. This movie is a mature film about a very scary topic and Peter Jackson takes these themes and what results is his most mature film since Heavenly Creatures.

The 411: The Lovely Bones is Peter Jackson’s most mature picture since Heavenly Creatures and just as that film used amazing special effects to tell the personal story of two friends faced with disaster, this film also uses Jackson’s fantastical mind to tell a more personal story of a family dealing with loss. It takes strong individuals to come through a tragedy and remain whole and Peter Jackson makes sure his film allows this story to be revealed in a positive manner. I have heard criticism that Jackson glossed over the rape and murder from the book but feel it is a necessary choice for this film. The movie, as it is, remains a very devastating film and one that will allow the haunting implications to rest in a parent’s mind long after seeing it. Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci bookend a spectacular cast, bringing this story of a little girl, her murderer and the people affected by these events, into a truly terrifying reality. Don’t go into this film prejudiced by the talk of special effects and don’t expect a mystery thriller. The Lovely Bones is a heartbreaking tale of loss and acceptance and is one of 2009’s greatest films.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]