Review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) by Nick M — 17 May 2004

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will soon be 18. I'm pretty excited and I'm hoping to get some good stuff. I'll keep you updated. The title of this entry refers to the fact that my birthday will be the last thing brought to attention tomorrow. It's not that I am neglected, it's the fact that my sister is graduating from college tomorrow. Two years ago, my brother's graduation from Boston College was on May 20th, which means we spent half of May 19th driving in our car. Yeah, loads of fun. As if my sister graduating isn't bad enough, one of my best friends, Katie, is going to be on MTV. She's going to be on that inane, yet strangely entertaining, show Room Raiders. It'll be on at 4:30. I advise you to watch it. You won't regret it (she's pretty hot). She'll be the blonde one that will probably be decked out in A & F or some other preppy and shallow type clothing, in case you end up watching it (which you should!). Anyway, I'm not really as pissed as I probably sound in this entry. I don't hold my birthday in high regard like some other people do. It just seems like every other day, you know, except for the fact that you get showered with money. Ca-ching!

Friday night, me and my friend decided to go get some Chili's take-out and come back and watch a movie. We fought over which one to watch, but I eventually won out with [b]The Sweet Hereafter[/b]. And what a pick it was. This has got to be one of the most beautiful, haunting, and poetic movies I have ever seen. Gah, I hate to use the term 'poetic' when describing a movie, but it fits so damn well here. The film is well acted throughout, with one great performance after another. Ian Holm is confident, manipulating, and distraught (sometimes physically, always mentally) as a lawyer and a father who realizes that he is representing a case that mirrors his own tragic private life. Sarah Polley, as good as ever, turns in one of the best 'teenage' performances ever (she was 17 when it was filmed). I put 'teenage' in quotation marks because her character and performance are anything but teenage. At first she is naive, but then she sees the truth through all the lies and deception and acts more mature than all of the people in the town. I give Atom Egoyan a lot of credit for this movie. He handles many of the flashback scenes so well. In this case, the flashbacks are not used to help you piece together the film, but to help you sympathize with the characters more and to build onto the already affecting atmosphere of this emotionally resonating film. As if this film being well acted and directed wasn't enough, it probably has one of the best screenplays ever written. It ties the somewhat complicated plot together so well with a literary source that has been cherished for ages. It brings this literary source to life and serves as an allegory to the rats of this town being punished. Just like it's literary source, this movie should be cherished for ages. [b]A[/b].