Review of Grace Is Gone (2007) by Mark C — 02 Jun 2008

This is an incredibly sad, incredibly sweet, incredibly satisfying little family drama, anchored by the wonderful performance of an actor we are only beginning to fully appreciate: Mr. John Cusack.

This was a very strong year for lead acting performances; we saw D-Day drink other men's milkshakes in the process of giving the performance of the decade, P.S. Hoffman was utterly brilliant in "Before the Devil," Gosling changed the game in "Lars and the Real Girl". Viggo and Denzel gave the performances of their careers, and Benicio came back from a long hiatus and showed he never skipped a beat. Michael Shannon burst onto the scene and Pitt and Casey Affleck performed a country western duet for the ages.

But even with all that, no one actor surprised me more than John Cusack in "Grace is Gone". I've never seen him like this. In most of his performances, he usually relies on a kind of innate snarky intelligence. This is not to say he can only do one thing, or that I don't always enjoy watching him on screen. Because I do. He's one of the most natural and easy to love actors of the past twenty years.

But here, his Stanley Phillips is a lost and timid soul. Cusack gives him a strange gait; the man seems to be both bowlegged and pigeontoed, but it totally fits the character. The performance is subtle and nearly flawless. The Academy should have nominated him. Mr. Cusack deserved it.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Shelan O'Keefe and Gracie Bednarczyk, the two young actresses who play Cusack's daughters in the film. O'Keefe, as 12 year old Heidi, gives her a cynical, world-weary intelligence, whereas Bednarczyk plays 8-year-old Dawn as the kind of precocious, says-whatever-she-thinks little girl that you can't help falling in love with. These two characterizations draw you into these girls and set up a heart-wrenching climax.

Kudos to first time writer-director James C. Strouse. He keeps it simple, which is good. Anything else would have been too much. Highly recommended, but keep a box of tissues nearby.