| 14 January 2010
Watching a film, television movie or mini-series based on a literary work without having ever read the book is as valid as having read the book first and watching the film or TV movie later. In fact, most people do the former rather than the latter. Of course, you run the risk of being turned off by the movie or mini-series and never wanting to touch the original source with a ten-foot pole.
Even though I have yet to read Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones," I cannot assert that Peter Jackson's adaptation of the same has completely turned me away from the novel. In fact, I now want to see how Sebold handles the fantasy elements and if the novel has as many confounding tone shifts as the film.
As a movie, “The Lovely Bones” is not as bad as most critics claim it to be. Is it flawed? Absolutely. But I’ve seen it twice already and I can assure you that there is a lot to recommend even though the film doesn’t quite come together as a whole.
On my first viewing, I was struck by the overwhelming sadness that permeates the film, a feeling enhanced by the tinklings of Brian Eno’s score and Saoirse Ronan’s somber voice-over narration. Only Susan Sarandon’s often shrill performance as the protagonist’s grandmother and Stanley Tucci’s creepy turn as the murderer manage to overcome the film’s tone. But a second viewing allows you to savor the ensemble’s full work and appreciate what Jackson is trying to do with the film’s fantasy sequences.
The film, as the novel, is told from the point of view of Susie Salmon (Ronan), a 14-year old girl who is raped and murdered in 1973 by a neighbor. She is in a place known as the “In-Between,” neither Heaven nor Purgatory, a sort of limbo from where she watches over her family. Jackson envisions this “In-Between” as a bright Technicolor paradise of delightful, picturesque visions, where pieces of Susie’s past life pop up here and there representing the unfinished business she left behind. She watches how her brutal death tears her family apart, driving her father to obsessively search for her killer and sending her mother as far away from the family as possible. Susie also keeps watch over her murderer and rapist as he prepares to strike again.
I had real trouble with these “In-Between” sequences when I first saw the film. Unlike the fantasy sequences in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” they did not seem fully integrated into the film. In creating a separate world, Jackson virtually pulls us out of the film, lessening the raw, emotional impact the story needs. Ronan’s soft, monotone, doesn’t help matters either.
Jackson may be one of the kings of fantasy filmmaking, but his direction felt more real, assured, confident, whenever he brought the action back to Earth. The raw power of these scenes is somewhat undermined by their episodic nature. We are never quite sure if the film takes place over a couple of months or a couple of years. In fact, only Susie’s middle sister seems to grow up during the entire length of the movie and.
Yet, scenes such as the beating Susie’s Dad receives in a cornfield by a teenage punk as he pursues the killer and Susie’s sister daring home invasion of the killer in search of clues grab you by the throat, giving the film the raw jolt it needs. In the end, Susie’s final words touch us not because we see her in this semi-resplendent heavenly state but because of what they say about the journey her family has gone through in trying to come to terms with her tragic death. “The Lovely Bones” needed more of that heartfelt feeling and less of its beautiful, yet sugary, heaven delights.
CAFE'S RATING SYSTEM:
FOUR SHOTS: The perfect brew
THREE SHOTS: A decent brew
TWO SHOTS: A weak brew
ONE SHOT: Tastes like tar
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