The Greatest

A family is torn apart with grief when the eldest son is killed in a car crash. All the members of the family deal with the loss in different ways, alienating each other in the process. Things get even more complicated when a young woman turns up, pregnant with the dead son's child.

For a lot of the time, 'The Greatest' is a very depressing movie. There's a lot of crying, or people on the verge of crying, or people trying their best not to cry, and that isn't the most pleasant viewing experience in the world. However, to give credit where credit's due, writer/director Shana Feste has done a solid job of making it engaging and watchable. The subject matter is very interesting – how do a mother and father cope when their son dies? How does a young boy cope without his older brother? How does a young woman cope without the love of her life? Feste does a very good job of portraying the different expressions of grief and, while it's a bit depressing, it's also a bit cathartic.

Annoyingly though, the film starts to go a bit downhill in the final third. There's a since of harsh reality in that first two-thirds, but it gets a bit hokey towards the end. The film is immediately predictable, which is tough to avoid. But rather than offer some surprises, the movie gives you exactly what you expected, and does it with a healthy dose of Hollywood-esque melodrama.

Probably the most interesting character is Grace Brewer, played by Susan Sarandon. Obsessed with knowing every detail about her son's death, she seems to border on insanity at times. Ryan (Johnny Simmons) is also excellent as the younger brother, who is living in denial. It is a subtle performance from the young actor, and his eventual breakdown is one of the most emotional moments of the entire film.

And then you have the big let-down and the big show-stealer. The let-down first: Pierce Brosnan. The guy makes a great 007, a great one. But here, he felt really out of place. Brosnan is a good actor, don't get me wrong, but he has an AWFUL American accent and just isn't emotive enough. And on the opposite end of the spectrum is Carey Mulligan, the show-stealer. I love watching this girl act; she is a fantastic actress who never seems to put a step wrong. While her character in the movie might not have a lot of depth, she still manages to breathe life into it. Her personal journey is the one I felt most attached to and, again, it's predictable but interesting.

'The Greatest' is a very typical independent movie. A strong cast with good performances, an unconventional story that's solidly told, but with a number of flaws that stops it from getting better commercial success. It does have enough to warrant a watch, though. You might even shed a tear or two.

This is not a "feel good" movie, but its feelings are true. The story follows a family (mother, father, brother) of a young man killed in a car accident in the first scene of the movie. Their lives are jumbled up by the introduction of the son's (brother's) girlfriend. I thought all of the actors turned in fine, powerful performances. Even more impressive is that the writer/director of the film was a first time filmmaker. That she was able to get such a marvelous cast in her first film is amazing. This movie reminded me of "Ordinary People," updated for today. Of course there are differences, but it's the same genre.

Although I recommend the movie, know that it's kind of a downer. I have a feeling it won't do well because these days people want movies that are more of the "feel good" variety.

The Greatest (2009)

A crisis of youth becomes a crisis for a whole family, and it's serious stuff. There's an attempt, very conspicuous in gesture and angst filled expressions, to be gritty and real, and it's a believable scenario. It's a tearjerker, surely, an intimate psychodrama dripping in sentiment.

However, the movie depends almost purely on this terrible crisis to succeed, and that's actually slightly backwards, in movie terms. That is, it should be the writing and acting that sweeps us in and makes us share the grief of the main characters. You end up wanting to empathize, but it's sometimes despite the movie, which pushes very hard, like a friend who wants to make you feel bad about something. It has such touching moments it's hard to quite accept that a lot of it is clumsily written, almost like a high budget beginner's film, which sounds worse than I mean it. But you'll see, I think, even if you love it thoroughly, that it works modestly. So accept its flaws, ignore the obvious flashbacks to the good times, skip the dining room table where people are sitting all on one side so we can see them all from the camera, ignore the patter that is meant to make life ordinary and doesn't, and so on. Be forgiving or give it a pass.

What saves the movie (somewhat) from its excesses is the performance of the lead girl, Rose (Carey Mulligan), and the father, Mr. Brewer, played by Pierce Brosnan, who is a nuanced dad, whatever his James Bond pedigree, though neither one is given decent lines to work with. (Brosnan was also a producer, go figure.) The mother is meant to be disturbed in her grief, and she sure is. The sexy grad assistant is too too obvious even for the movies. And the brother, well, what is his role, actually, just to add a second improbable plot? And there is surveillance video of the crash, which is beyond even reasonable open-mindedness, given the isolation implied by the first several minutes of the movie. The sensationalism of that, alone, will warn you of what's to come.

Okay, one last confession. It gets so emotionally atomic at times, with the throbbing cellos coming in the background, I had to laugh out loud. I swear. And yet, I see how it deals with some truly, believably gorgeous stuff.

The Greatest, starring Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, and Carey Mulligan (An Education), is a relatively unknown movie by a first time director (Shana Feste) that is nevertheless quite good.

Brosnan and Sarandon are married and play the grief stricken parents of two teenage boys, one of whom dies suddenly in a horrific traffic accident at the very beginning of the film. Sarandon is excellent and demonstrates she is a superior actress in her portrayal of a mother grieving I would almost say to the extreme. She is haunted by what happened to her son, by the fact that he stayed alive for 17 minutes and that she was not there to help him. She simply cannot get over the loss and resents her husband for moving on so quickly. A very poignant scene occurs when he offers her a bell, a sort of tool to help her with her grief, and tells her to ring it each time she thinks of their deceased son. She takes the bell from him and starts ringing it- non-stop. This and many other moments were extremely sad, showing how people cope with loss in very different ways.

Things get even more complicated with the early appearance of Carey Mulligan's character, the girlfriend of the late young man, and her surprise announcement. This leads to even more sadness and hurtful reminders for the mother, but also a certain easing of the pain for the father, which inevitably results in great tension between the couple. Sarandon gets especially furious, distressed and jealous when, trying to reach her husband during a break down, she finds his phone turned off and learns subsequently that he had gone to the movies with the young girl. The scene escalates so much with an almost silent force that Brosnan picks her up and throws her fully clothed into the ocean, to awaken her and make her see that her anguish is unreasonable and causing pain to the rest of the living members of their family.

The younger brother, appearing almost indifferent at first, succumbs to his emotions in the second half of the movie. The father, who keeps a cool demeanor and tries to hold the family together through his strength also finally collapses and interestingly, Sarandon picks up where he left off and comforts him, telling him that their son did not suffer. The whole family and their links are very credible and Brosnan astonished me by being particularly realistic.

Even if this movie is almost painful to watch due to the difficult subject matter, it is very well acted and written, making it extremely emotional and powerful. It ends well so do not be too afraid, but if you are a crier, a tear or two will definitely be shed.

My rating: 7.5 For more reviews please check out http://paulinasmovies.blogspot.com!!!

This film is about a family who grief over the loss of their son in a traffic accident. This process is complicated by the unexpected arrival of a teenage girl who claims to have their son's unborn child.

"The Greatest" is powerful and touching. The mother, played by the amazing Susan Sarandon, is relentless in knowing the truth about her son's final moments. She gives such a moving performance that anyone gets saddened by her tragic loss. Carey Mulligan also deserves mention, as she displays a spectrum of convincing emotions effortlessly. Judging by the stream of great movies she is in, she will be a big star and Hollywood knows it.

"The Greatest" is a powerful story that moves anyone easily. As Susan Sarandon's character says, once your child is born, a woman knows that her child is the greatest. It is easy to relate to this statement, and yet everyone seems to be forgetting to celebrate this fact. As this film shows, you never know what you have got until its gone. "The Greatest" is a powerful reminder that you should treasure your family before its too late.