VIDEO REVIEW
ARIAL VIEW & MOVE IN on white clapboard houses, a spired American Gothic church, elms turning gold, gentle suburban roads, a brick school. MOVE IN CLOSER to cars, people on street. CUT TO a backyard barbecue.
The father is the town's respected doctor,
The mother is a singing teacher at the school, and the leader of the school choir. The young son is interested in commercial lobster fishing, and hasn't decided about college.
This is a somewhat above average American family. He is a dedicated professional. She teaches. She reads an art book on Andrew Wyeth while in bed.. There is art on the walls. A sparse interior, done in a deliberate New England sort of way, a sunny kitchen, washed in palest blue and yellow. Blond furniture, soft throw on the sofa. Books in bookshelves. A man and woman, living productive lives, and crazy about their grown son. All in all, a comfortable, comforting life.
The camera takes its sweet time from happy scene to serious scene, from work to play, simply showing us life as it is. Sometimes it feels as if it takes fifteen minutes to track a car down a country road. There is so little action that even one who is not nuts about it can get antsy after a while. But, timing being everything, the slow establishing and early shots are pivotal.
The beloved grown son is murdered.
The long submerged discontent between husband and wife is revealed to both.
The father avenges the murder.
I finally steeled myself and checked out "In the Bedroom" with Cissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson. I read the reviews, mostly good, but, I have a hard time with grief as entertainment. If you missed this film, for my reason or your own, you should see it anyway. The quiet pacing, the actors, wonderful as real people in a real life drama. The intelligent direction.by Todd Field, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Coming away sorrowful is, I guess, worth it. From the story "Killings" by Andre Dubas.
12:01:50 PM 
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