"ONE OF THE BEST FILMS I'VE EVER SEEN AT A FESTIVAL ... PRETTY MUCH FLAWLESS": It'll be a few months before the rest of us get to see the film adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer-winning play
Rabbit Hole, starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, but
Cinematical's Scott Weinberg just caught it in Toronto and writes, "As poignant as a bittersweet love letter and as personal as a film can possibly be, 'Rabbit Hole' represents career highs for practically everyone involved. I can't remember the last time a 'little drama movie' left me overflowing with this sort of affection, but 'Rabbit Hole' is a very unique and special film."
I think that Rabbit Hole is easily the best Pulitzer winner for drama in the past decade, and -- barring Angels in America's first volume -- probably the best of the past 20 years.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Tony winning production with Cynthia Nixon and John Slattery a few years back, and it's a really solid play, though it needs substantial reworking for film--it depends on "to the audience" monologues at times, though based on reviews, seems that they've set these up as moments in group therapy sessions.
ReplyDeleteThat said, good as Nixon and Tyne Daly were, the moment that sticks with me the most was a wordless moment from John Slattery as he watches a video of his son. Just really hit.
Interestingly, Rabbit Hole was not even selected as a finalist by the Pulitzer jury that year, with the final overall Pulitzer panel overruling and picking it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Proof, Doubt, and August: Osage County, are all pretty darn fine works with Pulitzers this decade.
I cannot begin to fathom watching a drama about losing a four-year old boy. There is no circumstance whatsoever that would make me watch such a thing.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a five-year-old boy? Do you have one of those height-monitors in the critical portion of your brain: "You must be this tall for me to watch a drama about your death"?
ReplyDelete"Very unique." Why do we see this meaningless phrase so often? By definition, it is impossible for something to be very unique, it is either unique or not. It's like saying "This number 4 is the most number 4 I have ever seen." It's either number 4 or it isn't, there can be no other.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, I appear to have ingested a great deal of very strong coffee this morning.
Yeah, I gotta agree.
ReplyDeleteThey all are (with possible exception of Proof, which I thought was somewhat derivative). I Am My Own Wife is also fascinating. But, for me, none matched Rabbit Hole.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'd push back on this. I had the same thought, but read the play (because reading the drama winner every year is Just Something I Do). Although it's "about" that, it's not nearly as painful as you'd think. There is pain (and one scene in particular is heart-wrenching), but it deals with the subject with a lot of grace, and even humor.
ReplyDeleteI can see criticism of Proof as formulaic/derivative, but it is still exceedingly well done. I Am My Own Wife is solid, but I'm not sure how or if can work as a play apart from the performer and how well it would work with another performer.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing, especially given that I have two small boys. But I went to see the production in Chicago, and it's was well worth it. Looking forward to the movie, especially as they seem to have done it justice. (Unlike Doubt, which was absolutely ruined in the screen version.)
ReplyDeleteIchi- I have no problem watching a drama about my own death (or planet-wide or galaxy-wide carnage). Watching a movie about the death of little children is just not something I would want to bear. What was that Ian Holm movie about the bus going into the lake? Yeah, no thanks. Although Marsha's note could bring me around, since her kids are bracketed just within my two.
ReplyDeleteThe Sweet Hereafter, which I saw before I had kids. And it's still worth seeing.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it was easy, TPE - just that it was worth it. It really is an extraordinary play.
ReplyDeleteAu contraire! I saw a particularly typee number 4 on the way in to work today. It kind of blew away the other number 4s I've seen this week.
ReplyDeleteYOU ARE NUMBER SIX!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's not well phrased, although I can't say that I've seen a rash of the "very unique" construction overtaking my reading. My sense here is that the author was trying to convey that it was a "unique and very special film." Either he misplaced "very" or his editor did, perhaps imagining (incorrectly) that it called for some sort of parallel construction.
I'd like some of that coffee please. Or Kool-Aid, it's been a long time since I drank any Kool-Aid. I like red things.
ReplyDeleteI can't do it. I know people who lost a four-year-old boy. They deal with it with a lot of grace, and humor in recalling him at times. There's no way in hell I can read or watch a play about it.
ReplyDelete