Review of We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) by Tom H — 26 Feb 2005

Like the struggling writer, I am finding it hard to difficult to put my thoughts into precise words. We Don't Live Here Anymore does not have the impact it should. I am sympathetic but not quite moved, intriguing but not quite memorable. There is spark in the insightful writing and a rather somber style, but it fails when it comes to the characters. I like them, but that is besides the point. As people experiencing such hardships, one would expect to see more emotions rise.

The plot is vaguely similar to Closer. Two couples, Jack and Terry and Edith are Hank, are all unhappy in some way or another. Hank is always obsessed in his work, trying to get his work published, Jack is merely trying to get ends to meet, while Terry and Edith but sit alone in a house day and feel the isolation growing. The movie actually starts out with Edith and Jack having an affair as the misery slowly engulfs the couples.

There is a particularly nice third person omniscent view I like the movie takes. Frequently alternating between the view of the characters, use flashbacks to express thoughts, in addition to a reoccuring backdrop of a New England forest laying just past the railroad tracks. The perspectives are often conflicting, showing the good with the bad, the innocece along with the guilt. Who is actually telling the story though? I am not 100% sure, I get the feeling it is meant to be Jack's look on things as he narrates frequently.

Can a person really ever be whole with just one person? The movie wonders this a great deal though never quite makes its way into sorting out the answers. There is a big difference between love and sensual longings. Though, it sex is not as big an issue. Everyone here longs for a love that the spouse fails to provide and it seems the perfect remedy would just be to switch partners. Its only more complicated when you realize that these people are good friends in real life. Nothing here is ever contrived or complicated simply to do so, but it never establishes as big an impact as one might guess.

The cast is so great with so many familiar faces and having one of my favorite actresses, Naomi Watts. Yet, they cannot undo the faults of the screenplay. The talents deserve a lot more to work with. In this story of marital strains, people act out in pre-meditated manners rather than acting out of what is an otherwise emotional situation. Take an instance where a mother forgets to do the laundary for her son. Long after her husbands loud reminder, she has tense but controlled speech she must give. Its the cinematic equivalent of watching a pot of water sit on a hot stove for ages while the water merely simmers.

It is my belief it lacks this passion because it hopes to aim for something great, subtly. But it stumbles and achieves something worse, vagueness. In some moments, you can see it as well. Watching the housewives walk around mindless bored, the husbands have careers less than they hoped for, and the couples are withdrawn in their demeanors. These spots work the best, communicating emotion through deduction rather than explicit dialogue. You can sense clearly how people feel, but why they feel this way is a different story.

The people suffer and the director keeps it more hidden than it should, and the audience begins to wonder if anyone is ever going to admit the truth, despite the fact that everybody seems to already know the truth on some level. Though, We Don't Live Here Anymore is neither something you should go out of your way to rent or avoid.