I wonder how In The Bedroom won an Oscar for "best picture"? It's not a bad movie, but it was pretty boring and was way too long. 130 minutes for that story was by far too long. I don't know anymore how long it took them until the guy finally got awfully shot into his eye - maybe 50 movie minutes, but they could have just let him be shot in the beginning and saved up that time and start the story from that point on. There'd probably been more tension that way round. What a waste of time. But I was happy to see Sissy Spacek again for once. She's been that bloody girl in Stephen King's Carrie, and I can't think of anyone better in that role than Sissy Spacek. But I guess that weird Carrie-face will follow her for the rest of her life in her movies. But she's an amazing actress, I think, and played well in this one again.
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TRAILERS from IMDb
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SYNOPSIS from Rotten Tomatoes
Todd Field's IN THE BEDROOM is an artistic and realistic portrait of domestic trouble in small-town America. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson star as Ruth and Matt Fowler, the parents of a recent high school graduate, Frank (Nick Stahl), who has an affair with a married woman, Natalie (Marisa Tomei). A tragic event near the beginning of the film seems to stunt its action and dialogue, allowing the film to change into a largely visual piece based on memories, feelings, and silent communication; while the film's slow-moving camera, soft sunny lighting, and cautious pacing give it a resonating intensity.
Set in coastal Maine, the Fowlers are a well-liked family with simple, straightforward values. Dr. Fowler has his own small medical practice. Mrs. Fowler directs the chorus at the high school. Frank is a good kid who is working on the fishing docks for the summer, waiting for college in the fall. Frank falls into a summer romance with Natalie, an older woman with two young sons and a creepy, lurking husband (William Mapother) from whom she is separated. The relationship is worrisome to Mr. and Mrs. Fowler, but they want to be supportive of their son so they gently nudge him to think about the bigger picture, without being overbearing. But when the unthinkable happens, Mr. and Mrs. Fowler come face to face with their worst nightmare. Quietly, calmly, and with the most logic they can muster, they begin a dark and dangerous psychological journey. The result, reinforced by stunning performances from Wilkinson and Spacek, is a pensive, penetrating, and utterly believable story.
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Article comments
1 - Rodney Welch
Get your facts straight, Michelle -- In the Bedroom did not win the Oscar for Best Picture. Instead, the highest honor went to a piffle party known as A Beautiful Mind. Bad choice, because In the Bedroom is one of the best American films of the past ten years, and Tom Wilkinson -- beaten for best actor by that slab of meat Russell Crowe -- delivered one of the two or three greatest film performances I've ever seen. Spacek was great, too, so was Marisa Tomei, and Todd Field's direction and writing (with Robert Festinger, based on Andre Dubus' story) were models of clarity.
In fact, I was so riveted by the film I went back the next week to watch it again. I would not have changed a single frame. It's one of the very few films that take you deep into the dark heart of a terrible loss and the weight of grief that comes after. You really do feel the pain of those parents, their horrible sense of helplessness as days pile on days, tempers flare, and these professional, civilized people are suddenly forced to ponder the unthinkable.
As you can well imagine, I think your suggestions for improving the movie are abysmal: "I don't know anymore how long it took them until the guy finally got awfully shot into his eye - maybe 50 movie minutes, but they could have just let him be shot in the beginning and saved up that time and start the story from that point on." Yeah, right. Kill the guy in the beginning, before we can establish any sense of who he is or have any relationship at all with him as viewers -- that way the movie will end in a litttle over an hour and Michelle can run home in time to catch the latest episide of Spongebob.
2 - Michelle
Rodney, why so defensive? Did this review hurt you personally? Huh.
Anyway, I've read somewhere else this movie got the Oscar for Best Picture. So I guess it was my mistake not to double check it. Or should I double check what you're saying now. I better not... dare to question you.
But it's a relief to know Beautiful Mind got the Oscar, because I do think it was WAY better than In The Bedroom. It's actually one of my favorites.
@ "Yeah, right. Kill the guy in the beginning, before we can establish any sense of who he is or have any relationship at all with him as viewers"
I don't know how many movies you know, but there are actually many movies that start the way I suggested, and I still think it creates more tension. You can build up a relation also that way round.
@ "Spongebob"
I guess that's a series in the USA? I do not know it. And I hardly watch TV anyway. But if the movie had been shorter I could have taken out the next DVD of a better movie faster. :D
3 - Mark Saleski
i've gotta say that i didn't enjoy In The Bedroom at all.
i think it was sissy spacek's character. i just didn't like her.
i should have felt sorry for her but i just couldn't.
oh, and the maine accents (on/off/on/off/boston/off) were pretty bad.
4 - duane
It was excellent. Nice job, Rodney. Movies aren't just supposed to be like: this happens, and then this happens, and then here's the big finish. It often takes time to set the tone of the relationships. In this case, the Mother/Son and the Father/Son relationships had to be set up, because that figures prominently into what happens later, when the movie switches to the Husband/Wife relationship in the guilt-ridden aftermath. Wilkinson was just flawless. An intense, riveting movie.
I did have to pause in the middle, though. Spongebob comes on at 7:00 here.
5 - Rodney Welch
"I don't know how many movies you know, but there are actually many movies that start the way I suggested, and I still think it creates more tension. You can build up a relation also that way round."
Let me just put it this way: the movie was excellent the way it was, and the movie you are imagining it could have been sounds like a real piece of shit.
6 - Michelle
Rodney, that is your opinion, and I'm just alright with it. Just like you need to deal with my opinion. To me it's just a movie - one among hundreds of thousands.