Review of Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) by Tom D — 02 Sep 2008
The many advantages of the Bier approach are apparent again here, albeit on a grander scale. A director of films for grown-ups - which instantly sets her apart from 95% of contemporary American directors - she's almost always able to see the good in her characters; even her trademark, fetishistic close-ups of body parts - eyes, hands, Halle's earlobes - look like the work of a filmmaker trying to find more human ways to tell a story.
She's good at grounding her films in appreciable, messy realities - it's one of the few recent American movies where the characters talk about mortgages - but here, the feeling is that she's faulted on those realities just a little to meet the demands of her new employers.
Halle's mortgage, we learn, has long been paid off - a luxury that Bier's Danish characters probably wouldn't have known - which leads to a cold turkey sequence that's both authentic in its detail (the sweat, the piss stains, the vomit) and a mite too comfy in its location (a light, spacious patio extension).
This review of Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) was written by Tom D on 02 Sep 2008.
Things We Lost in the Fire has generally received positive reviews.
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