Accidents Happen

I was fortunate enough to see this film at the world premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival. And I have to say I loved it. From the opening frames it proved itself to be a film which is fresh, funny, sad, curious and smart.

Geena Davis is a delight to watch as she inhabits this rather self-focused, wise talking character who surprises us constantly with her ability to move through tragedy and yet still find humor and heart.

Newcomer Harrison Gilbertson, at just 14 years old, shows incredible depth of maturity and range as his character Billy Conway deals with the ups and downs of life.

It's essentially a story of life, albeit a life peppered with tragic accidents. But it manages to avoid being bleak, which is quite a feat given some of the subject matter. It's always human and the writing by Brian Carbee is sharp, funny and poignant.

A great film whose visually stunning scenes will continue to replay in my mind, thanks to the brilliance of first time director Andrew Lancaster and cinematographer Ben Nott.

Don't miss it.

Story good, and there are so much opportunity to make it great, but the durector ruined it.

The worst is the narrator, He killed the atmosphere totaly.

The caracters so simular, cant see who is who. Boys look alike. Bad choosing by casting director.

Dramaturg is a bit boring also.

I dont know why they ruined this geeat opportunity!? It could be so good film, but ruined:/

I am so sorry tonsaw that:(

This movie did a great job with the period details of 1982 and making Australia look like America and Australians sound like Americans. One mistake though: "Horror Smash" in the newspaper headline is not a phrase you would see in an American newspaper. It's Australian.

The movie starts out alright, but the comic tone at the beginning sadly is not the tone of much of the movie. Then the film tries to be more than it is. Near the end there was this heavy emotional scene where the viewers are supposed to be moved and cry with the characters, but it just didn't work. The "Horror Smash" accident scene around which a lot of the story revolves actually looked pretty minor and how anyone could have possibly been hurt is hard to imagine.

This film has some stellar reviews by IMDb users so far. Look closely and you'll see a lot of those reviewers have never reviewed another film. Gotta make you suspicious. Maybe if you are closely tied to the production, you would really like to believe it is a monumental movie, but it isn't.

Accidents Happen – Sydney Film Festival, June 2009 I was sold on this film by a description of Geena Davis who "shines as the screwball mother". The SFF program seemed to promise a screwball family comedy, with Davis' fearlessness in performance carrying the required bravado. So I was surprised when the opening sequence, a slow-motion shot of a playing child interrupted by an elderly neighbour accidentally barbecuing himself, suggested another tone was in the offing: a coming-of-age black comedy. That combination works well here.

To labour the labeling a little, ladling on a portmanteau, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN is a 'dramedy'. It's a realistic story of an early 80s suburban family unit fractured by an auto accident. The emotional weight of their tragedy squeezes absurdity out of the cracks in their stasis. Gloria Conway (Davis) turns her rapid-fire wit to lashing her 'useless' ex-husband but that is clearly a losing game for her as she is not much more on top of her grief for their lost children than he is.

The relationship between surviving but bereft younger son Billy and his ballsy mother is the meat of the film. They present a remarkably compelling take on an interdependent relationship. They made me really care that they would work it out, and a refreshing change from the common film stereotype of merely alienated teens.

The film overall is a showcase of great characterization through screen writing and performances, not just from the poised teen-aged leads but also minor characters like the barbecue-induced widow Mrs Smolensky. She steps startlingly out of being a background character in the payoff scene at the film's end.

That final sequence also left me backpedaling on conclusions I leapt to earlier about the film's symbolism. Up until that point, the crucial role of a bowling ball in the plot lent itself to symbolism of emotional baggage, a crushing burden to carry and destructively out of control when neglected. That ball's ultimate destination revealed over the end-credits indicates the authors either didn't have that in mind, or were pointing us to some other significance entirely. Comments here suggesting what that significance might be are very welcome.

Originally posted at http://moviebookchats.posterous.com/movie-review-accidents-happen

I recently ventured to the 8th Annual Tribeca Film Festival to see the anticipated film "Accidents Happen".

I was aware that the wonderful Geena Davis was in the picture which enticed me but was unaware that the cast had a few outstanding younger actors.

I expected a great film from the first scene but did not expect the outstanding, true and genuine performance that a young new shining talent - Harry Cook gave from start to finish. Every scene was honest & true there was an underlining depth that young actors rarely possess. I am never teary in films, but Cook's incredible performance brought me to tears on more than one occasion.

14 yr old Harrison Gilbertson also stood out in this film to me as someone you genuinely cared for. The cast were fabulous.

It was an absolute pleasure to watch this film & Harry Cook stood out in my eyes as truly remarkable talent that the world has been searching for for quite some time. I'm very impressed by everyone's work & look forward to seeing more from them all in the future.

Jane Griffin review-tribecafilm-accidentshappen09(C)