Review of Rabbit Hole (2010) by Maksim B — 24 Jan 2012

Rabbit Hole is a realistically painful, simple and sensitive family drama which touches the hearts and the souls of people with its honesty and unforgettable emotional experience that it offers. A devastating tragedy, this small town drama is extremely hard to follow and definitely not a movie for everyone.

It is hard to speak of pace in this movie, since everything is going about the way a family (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) copes with the tragedy of losing their four years old son in a car accident. Each scene is an affecting study on two different characters, on two different human beings and their way of going through the period of sorrow and coming back to normal life. In addition to this simple plot, the audience faces also the question of forgiveness, as it is slowly introduced to what exactly happened and how the son of Becca and Howie died.

Apart from the extremely delicate and marvelous direction, director John Mitchell has squeezed the best of his leading actors. Aaron Eckhart as the more extrovert, but always coming back to his memories father, is performing in a convincing and an emotional manner. On the other side, Nicole Kidman is the one who must take all the praise in this movie. A glimpse of her ice-cold face or a short and direct dialogue with her mother are enough to show her as almost unpleasantly cold person, whose rage and sorrow are unbearable. Her facial expressions, verbal cool-blooded verbal aggression and introvert sorrow result in Kidman's best performance in ages, comparable only to the her classic The Hours.

The whole 90 minutes of Rabbit Hole are driven by the grieve of the actors, delving deeper into their characters adds up further feeling of hopelessness, but still towards the end of the movie John Mitchell finds a way to find a spark of hope. A small reward, but extremely realistic.

Rabbit Hole is a drama, a tragedy that focuses on a small story with devastating consequences. It will touch you and move you in a way few movies have done it recently.