Tonight’s movie: In the Bedroom

This film has been getting tons of great publicity and awards already, so we decided to give it a shot. Besides, not much else left to see just now (Ali, The Majestic, Beautiful Mind all leave me a little wanting) so we went to the very nice Camera One in downtown San Jose and saw In the Bedroom. Much has been made about Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of the mother and she is touted as the frontrunner for Best Actress at the Oscars. But to me, this was Tom Wilkinson’s film far more than Spacek; he does a marvel as a man who must control his emotions in the face of tragedy.

This is the first time directing for Todd Fields, who is somewhat better known as an actor (Twister, Eyes Wide Shut, and a bunch of indie pictures), and even though the National Board of Review named him best director, I have a few bones to pick with his work. The pacing is too loose, the film runs 130 minutes and could have been cut to 110-115 easily. There is far too much use of foreshadowing, starting with the title and not leaving out the quaint wait at the bridge. And what’s with the girl’s chorus Spacek directs? That never gets tied in to the plot and seems to be included only to make her role meatier. Fields does a good job and in a year with somewhat meager pickings maybe he does get nominated for some of these awards but best director? I don’t think he gets the Oscar and he wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe.

Marisa Tomei really has a chance to act here and does well; she got a Golden Globe supporting actress nomination. William Mapother plays the bad guy as if he was born to it; Mapother is Tom Cruise’s cousin and his credits show it (Mapother is Cruise’s real last name, Cruise is his middle name). A lot of juicy smaler roles here for Celia Weston, William Wise, Karen Allen, and a few more.

This film is all about faces, the dialog is minimalist (there’s a reason this is playing at an art film house). No explosions, much blood, and a lot of sadness. This is not a Hollywood movie but I enjoyed it.