Grace is Gone Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 10.09.2007
John Cusack in a movie without Joan?
GRACE IS GONE
/// October 5, 2007
Stanley Phillips: John Cusack
Heidi Phillips: Shelan O’Keefe
Dawn Phillips: Grace Bednarczyk
John Phillips: Alessandro Nivola
The Weinstein Company presents a film written and directed by James C. Strouse. Running time: 92 minutes. Rated PG-13 for thematic material, brief strong language and teen smoking.
BY JACOB ZIEGLER
The moment the camera first shows John Cusack, ambling down a hallway with hunched shoulders, with big square glasses, it becomes apparent that this will not be the typical John Cusack movie. He’s not playing the hipster way cooler than anyone else his age, he doesn’t have any real interest in music, and his sister doesn’t even co-star.
Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, a middle aged husband and father of two young daughters. His daughter Grace is stationed over in Iraq, making this a very timely film. It is nice to see that writer-director James C. Strouse (who previously wrote “Lonesome Jim,” and is making his directorial debut with “Grace”) didn’t take the obvious route of leaving the mother behind while the father was off at war. Strouse also never really pauses to congratulate himself for doing so.
The plot goes into motion when Stanley receives the call no one should ever have to get – the one where he finds out that his wife and the mother of his children will never be coming home. Stanley is not a particularly verbose or prone to showing his emotions, and he struggles with how he can possibly tell his daughters.
He comes up with a solution that may rub some viewers the wrong way. He chooses to take his girls on a road trip to an amusement park rather than tell them the horrifying truth. Some may disagree with this decision, as does Stanley’s brother John (Alessandro Nivola), who seems to have more than one philosophical difference with his older brother. John represents the liberal left and Stanley the conservative right, but neither is presented as right or wrong. They are just two people who probably want the same thing in the end but disagree on how to get there.
Stanley’s relationship with his daughters Heidi, 12 (Shelan O’Keefe) and Dawn, 8 (Grace Bednarczyk) is tenuous at best. He struggles to relate to them, and they all struggle without Grace, the wife and mother. Though we never meet Grace, she is a vital part of the film (duh, since it’s named after her), and her presence lingers in and around every single scene.
The acting is phenomenal across the board in this one, with Cusack’s measured, layered performance anchoring the film. If this movie catches on and the Weinstein Brothers want to push him, Cusack could be looking at his first Oscar nomination this year. His supporting ladies O’Keefe and Bednarczyk both exude honesty that more mature actors sometimes lack.
Many have said that the film is not particularly shot, framed, or edited well. That may be true, but “Grace is Gone” is not about any of those things. Strouse may not have made a beautiful looking film, but he still made a beautiful film.
The 411: John Cusack is terrific as Stanley Phillips in this drama that could hit home with many viewers. Even for those who don’t have someone close to them in Iraq, the film does serve as a painful reminder of all who are there, and it puts you in their shoes of families like Stanley’s. This is an emotionally wrenching film, and one that will stick around after it’s over.
