Rabbit Hole - Neue Wege

Recently I saw Rabbit Hole, a drama that centers on a married couple that includes Becca (Played by Nicole Kidman), and Howie (Played by Aaron Eckhart), who are going through a tough time. It's been eight months since their child, Danny, was unexpectedly killed after he was hit by a car. They also go through tough times with Becca's family, a young boy she begins having conversations with, and a veteran of their support group (Played by Sandra Oh).

The film is not always highly ambitious, but it's a slow burning, devastating experience. The film is written by David Lindsay-Abbaire, and based on his stage play. He writes the film with a realistic touch, and words it oh so finely. Themes of emotional hardships, and desire to block out the past are very much so explored within the film. Still, as thoughtful as the writing and direction may be, the film can't help but feel stagy at points, and a tad distracted.

Regardless, I recommend seeing it, if only to behold the performances of Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. Their performances are brimming with heart, and they infuse genuine heartbreak, anger, and joy (What little there is) into their performances. They give us gripping and memorable portrayals of sorrow and regret.

Sure, I'm not too fond of a few things, but I still liked Rabbit Hole. I give it *** out of ****

Mitch Hansch/ movieswithmitch.com Looking for some holiday movie cheer for you and your kin to bring in the seasonal cheer? If a film about a married couple coping with death of their young son does it for you, then go see "Rabbit Hole". But seriously folks, "Rabbit Hole" could just be another life-is-pain film clawing away for the awards season, but instead, we're blessed with so much more. Grand performances open a window to people's pain of the hardest kind, and David Lindsay-Abaire's screenplay from his Pulitzer Prize winning play allow for a truer look at events no one is equipped to handle.

Eight months after losing their young son Danny in a car crash, Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) are past the point of the shock and now are left in a living purgatory of despair. Kidman and Eckhart somehow put the weight of their characters on their shoulders and are able to convey the strain and loss of the purest thing that two can create. A scene of Howie being devastated by Becca accidentally erasing a father/son video on his Iphone or a scene of Becca losing it on a mother at a grocery store will tear you to pieces. But director John Cameron Mitchell doesn't allow "Rabbit Hole" to become grief-porn, letting his actors use an amazing screenplay to go deeper by using glib humor to seep through agony. Fine supporting performances from Diane Wiest as Becca's mother who compares tragedy with the loss of her son and Sandra Oh as a professional wallower at the self help groups Howie and Becca attend, fill out a tough but challenging film that will take you down the rabbit hole.

"This" will take you down the rabbit hole.

John 17:24

Greetings again from the darkness. It would be very easy to dismiss this film as a depressing story or a real downer for the holiday season. Admittedly, the timing of its release is a bit odd, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a very well made and extremely well acted film. This is a character study in dealing with grief ... the breathless grief of losing a young child. The story is told with respect, warmth and even touches of humor.

Based on the acclaimed play from David Lindsay-Abaire, director John Cameron Mitchell stays true to the individuals within the story. Nicole Kidman plays Becca, who is married to Howie (Aaron Eckhart). The couple are 8 months removed from the death of their 4 year old son who was killed when he chased his dog into the street. 8 months or 8 years. When in group therapy, Becca and Howie meet Gaby (Sandra Oh) who has been in the group for 8 years. Healing has its own timeline for each person. Becca has little use for the "God people" or the group addicts and quickly stops attending. Instead, she spends her time lashing out at everyone ... her husband, her mother, her sister ... even the dog and a lady at the grocery store.

Oddly enough, it is her bond with the high school boy who was driving the car that killed her son that helps her break through. She senses his pain and he understands hers. The story does a subtle and terrific job of showing how we are all touched by grief and how it affects the way we live our life. The best scene in the film is with Becca and her mother (Dianne Weist) in the basement. Her mother honestly tells her that "it" never goes away, but it does change. The grief becomes "bearable". That's really the goal.

No matter how many books are written on the topic, no blueprint will ever be one-size-fits-all for coping with the void and emptiness from the loss of a loved one. This story shows that if you just keep moving forward and keep connecting with others, the burden will become bearable.

Following on from his first two audacious features in the niche of queer cinema, John Cameron Mitchell now enters relatively mainstream waters to bring us Rabbit Hole, adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play. It's a quiet, contemplative film, brimming with sadness and humor, and lead by a wonderful central performance.

Nicole Kidman returns to the theme that first brought her to international attention - that of a mother grieving the loss of a child, and the emotional aftermath that such a trauma entails. Of course in the two decades since Dead Calm was released, Kidman has explored of multitude roles and worked with some of the finest directors in the industry. She has gained such an authority on screen - yet somehow, here, she manages to strip away all of our preconceptions so that we are left with something as raw and natural as she was opposite Sam Neil at the age of 21. This is her most fully-rounded character and detailed performance in years - nimble, layered and completely magnetic.

Becca's journey with her husband Howie (Aaron Eckhart), eight months after the tragic accident that killed their son, is beautifully captured by Cameron Mitchell's lens. Despite the film's stage origins, the story never feels too talky or confined, shots are simple yet beautifully composed, the editing and pace have a fluid rhythm. The couple's facade of normalcy - making dinners, attending pious bereavement groups and keeping up appearances with friends and neighbors, begins to crack as the mementos of their son's life disappear. Becca gives his clothes to goodwill and takes his paintings off the fridge, she accidentally deletes a video of him playing on a swing - causing a distraught reaction in Howie. The difference in the way this couple deals with the loss is compelling, and the friction between them palpable outside of the few explosive scenes.

Their disconnect becomes more and more apparent, and Eckhart plays it with a wounded humanity that's really effective. Howie wishes they could "get back on track" and perhaps try for another baby, something which Becca is not prepared to do. Instead he starts hanging out with Gabby, a woman from their bereavement group, played by the always reliable Sandra Oh. Meanwhile prickly moments between Becca and her irresponsible sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard) are very well played and Dianne Wiest provides a lot of warmth and wisdom as Becca's mother, but doesn't really get a defining moment. Becca both yearns to escape the reminders of her grief and seeks closure and solace in her pursuit of Jason, the young man who accidentally ran over her son. This strand of the story, exploring the idea of parallel universes and fate, gives the story a unique edge and Miles Teller is easily the stand out of the supporting cast.

Ultimately what gives this film its power is that Mitchell's focus is always fiercely rooted in the reality of the situation, side-stepping the potential sentimentality of the subject - biting humor undercuts the sorrow and there certain moments of confrontation between Becca, Howie and Jason that strike quite a visceral chord. The scenes on the bench between Kidman and Teller contain moments of such purity and depth as to be heartbreaking - and to me, the final montage is one of the most sublime and emotionally resonant endings of the past decade. I can't recommend the film enough, and if there's any justice in the world Kidman will finally be recognized again by the Academy.

'Rabbit Hole' is a nice tidy showcase for the acting talents of an above average cast, but the story doesn't have much of an arc, and neither do any of the characters. Prosperous middle-class Becca and Howie have lost their four-year-old son in a car accident eight months prior to the film's opening. Howie is struggling to move on from their loss, but Becca tries to deal with the situation by suppressing her feelings. She rejects her husband's overtures for mutual consolation, treats friends and family with icy politeness when she's not snapping at them, and tries to banish memories of her deceased son by disposing of his possessions. The couple interact joylessly with their acquaintances and each other as they struggle with the burden of grief, even as their differing responses to the tragedy widens the breach in their relationship. Director Mitchell extracts respectable performances from the actors playing the six principal characters - Aaron Eckhart in particular - but he misses several opportunities to give his characters sympathetic nuances that would have resulted in deeper emotional impact. Unfortunately, in the final analysis the film doesn't amount to much more than a superior Sunday Night TV-movie weepie for some bourgeois intelligentsia demographic.