Review of Grace Is Gone (2007) by Jessica L — 15 Jun 2008

"Sometimes soliders get hurt".

....................................................

Steadily handed, understated, devestating and brave. Grace is gone is a hell of a film. It's bleak, but never for bleaks sake, it's honest and thankfully it never steps into "what you'd expect" drama.

Cusack provides a slightly diffrent slant on his usual cool personailty. He's still a lost soul here, he doesn't know what to do next and the fact he plays it so low key just adds to the realism. It's one hell of a performance, without being a performance.

What also aids this is the kids. They are quite simply playing it as kids. No heavy non kid monologues, no more mature than their age informs us. Just plain ol' kids. it was quite refreshing.

Grace is gone has a hook, and that hook is that you know he has to tell those kids about there mum at some stage. Every step towards that moment is multi layered because of it. Every moment has two meanings. It's a hard watch in places, but it adds to the movies feeling.

Not one i'm going to watch a lot due to it's subject matter, but this is an understated, controlled piece of work that shows how to do this well and with real human emotion. Hats off to it.

.....................................................

"Give me a H, give me an O, give me an M, give me an E....".