Reservation Road

I didn't know what "Reservation Road" was about when I started watching it. Not knowing the plot makes the movie hit you more. After an unfortunate event, the two families involved (neither of whom knows who the other is) inadvertently become more and more intertwined. Each time that another link gets revealed, you know that you're getting closer and closer to something ugly.

The characters, although not the best that I've seen in movies, were certainly worthwhile. Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix) remains totally despondent about his son's death and the fact that the killer hasn't been caught. Ethan's wife Grace (Jennifer Connelly) wants to move on with her life and finds it regrettable that Ethan obsesses on one topic. Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo), who caused the accident, spends most of the movie bothered by his actions and wanting to right the wrongs, but worried about what might result. At times, each of the characters come across as somewhat repulsive, but you still understand why they behave as they do.

Some people might liken this movie to "In the Bedroom" and "Mystic River". "Reservation Road" certainly deals with similar themes, although I wouldn't actually put it in the same league as those other two. This movie seems a little bit more sensationalistic, and as though it's trying to do the same as the other two. But overall, I thought that it's a good movie, and I would recommend it. Also starring Mira Sorvino and Elle Fanning.

The issues dealt with in this movie are real, and I can see many people who will be able to draw from their own experiences when watching this film. You may wonder sometimes if an accident happens, how long can you hold a person accountable for? Jennifer Connelly is again a mesmerizing presence on the silver screen. I watched tonight's screening of Reservation Road in Sudbury at our Cinefest festival expecting it to tug an emotional chord. I have to say, it was touching to see all the parents in the audience shedding a tear when the credits rolled. Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo made a somewhat formulaic script feel fresh and real.

This is not only a riveting film that deals with courage and lack of it. This is a devastatingly eviscerating moral parable about a victim's need for closure and a perpetrator's battle with his guilt. Only a very few movies have dealt with the struggle between a man's tortured conscience and his denial on one side and mourning and letting go on the other. One story line brings Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment to mind while the other one evokes the story line of Brad Pitt's character in Babel.

Jennifer Connelly's depiction of a mother suffering an unbearable loss is so heartbreaking it cuts right through you with its fidelity to genuine real life pain. Joaquin Phoenix portrays desperation with such force you understand and sympathize with his character and what he's going through. The intensity and emotional impact of this movie is as great as The House of Sand and Fog, The Shawshank Redemption and Five Easy Pieces. The ending holds a thought-provoking revelation for the main character that reads like an epiphany as he understands what his only rescue is from the crushing injustice bearing down on him.

Reservation Road deserves to be considered a classic in retrospect since it has that unique power to hold you in its grip and not letting go until the credits roll. Every nuance in the narration achieves a resonance of truth and the viewers will be thinking for a long time about its implications on their lives. Ultimately it's a story about love and how the loss of what we treasure most changes our lives forever, how our undying love in the time of death makes us suffer and seek revenge and retribution but in the end prevail it all.

I didn't know much about RR when I grabbed it off the shelf at my local video store, but I was enticed by the cast so I decided to take it for a spin. It really ended up surprising me because I hadn't heard anything about it and wasn't really expecting too much out of it. In the end though, I ended up liking the movie a lot. There were parts where I was very very moved and it was just too hard to not be on the side of Joaquin, and then moments later you flash to Mark Ruffalo and I understood in a way what he was going through. Throughout the movie my feelings for Ruffalo changed greatly. At first, of course, it was immediate hatred for him, but as I got to know him I started to feel for him before again being completely sickened by him in the end. Most movies can't take you on a ride the way that I was taken for this one, I was really moved at parts and completely sickened at others. These days you don't get many movies that take you on this kind of a journey, and I salute any film that doesn't just stick with a simple cookie cutter plot that I can predict before it starts. Sometimes we need something like this to remind us what good movies really are. For me the acting was superb and the plot kept you thinking. This is definitely one that I think you should go out and watch.

I knew nothing about the plot when I rented this film. With Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mark Ruffalo starring in it, I figured it would be, at the very least, good, and it was. From the beginning scenes, a palpable tension is created; you just know something awful is about to happen despite two normal family outings being the subject matter. From then on, the plot reels out in an arc rife with too many coincidences, but the direction was able to pull it off without making me want to groan. There are some emotional scenes that would have played a little better had they been more subtle. The police officer and Mark Ruffalo were flawless. The children were outstanding. I'm not sure if it was Joaquin's character, the script, the direction or what, but he did not keep me riveted as he usually does; a bit over-acted perhaps. Jennifer delivered a couple of lines that didn't ring true--could have been an editing problem. The obsession of anger/justice seems a bit premature. It would have been better to see a progression. Despite my criticisms, I found enough mastery and depth of character to recommend it and give it a 7. I found myself worrying that the ending would ruin the film but it was faultless and convincing.