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Grace Is Gone
Availability:
In Stock
Price:
$14.93
$2.48*
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| Part No: | B0013D8LBS |
| Manufacturer: | Weinstein Company |
| MFG Part: | WEID81172D |
| Customer Rating: | 4.0 / 5.0 |
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Unlike previous Iraq War films, the poignant directorial debut from writer James C. Strouse ( Lonesome Jim) uses the conflict as starting point rather than subject. Early in the proceedings, Stanley (John Cusack) finds out his wife has been killed in the line of duty. The bespectacled disciplinarian decides not to tell his daughters right away. In his younger days, Stanley tried to serve his country, but poor eyesight dashed that dream, and now he's a superstore manager. The sort of middle-American conservative rarely seen at the art house, Stanley believes in his president. That doesn't alleviate his pain. Putting on a brave face, he asks his oblivious girls for their greatest wish. Eight-year-old Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk) exclaims, "Enchanted Gardens!" With that, they hop in their SUV and drive from Minnesota to the Florida theme park. Twelve-year-old Heidi (Shélan O'Keefe) knows something is wrong--her dad isn't the spontaneous type--but she doesn't know what it is. En route, they visit Stanley's brother, John (Alessandro Nivola), who offers some insight into their bottled-up father. By the end of the trip, Stanley figures out how to break the news, in the process becoming a real parent. After winning the Audience Award at Sundance, Clint Eastwood, Cusack's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil director, gave the soundtrack a jazz-oriented overhaul. In tone, it's almost too refined for the blue-collar world Strouse depicts, but never distracting. More importantly, Grace Is Gone features Cusack's finest performance to date. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
In one of his most acclaimed performances, John Cusack makes an astonishing transformation as Stanley Philips, a sad, disconnected man unable to tell his young daughters their mother, a soldier, has died in Iraq. Instead, he takes the girls on a road trip, where their innocent charm helps him rediscover a healing joy he thought he'd lost forever.
| Cusack at his best! | 2010-05-29 | 5 / 5 |
| | I am a total John Cusack "fiend", and believe me when I say that Grace Is Gone is his best! He is total perfection in his protrayal of a father whose wife dies in Iraq, and he is left to break the news to his two daughters. By the end of this movie, I was in tears; and totally convinced that John Cusack is completely underrated by Hollywood...why he did not win an award for this one is beyond me! He is my all-time favorite actor! **Try Identity...it is my 2nd favorite movie of his. |
| Grace Is Gone | 2010-03-10 | 4 / 5 |
| Stan Philipps's wife Grace is a sergeant with the U.S. Army. While she's posted to Iraq, the earnest Stan is home in Minnesota with their daughters, Heidi, 12, and Dawn, 8. He manages a home supply store. After morning visitors bring Stan news, he takes the girls for a car ride that turns into a spontaneous trip to Dawn's favorite place, a Florida amusement park. On the way, they stop at Stan's mother's house, where his brother is staying. Heidi is an insomniac, who tries to fathom her father's uncharacteristic behavior. Dawn is cheerfully unreflective. They have fun at the park. Stan summons his courage. This is a movie about normalcy and our failure to cope. I think it works. This is not a cheery, feel good flick in which everyone goes home with a smile on, but it is a satisfying movie that offers a realistic portrayal of regular people coping with a very harsh reality.
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| beautifully understated look at the effect of war on those left behind | 2010-02-22 | 4 / 5 |
| ****1/2
Anytime a word like "grace" appears in a movie's title, it's time to set your pun-detector on high alert. In the case of "Grace is Gone," the word refers, on a literal level, to a woman named Grace who is killed while fighting in Iraq, and, on a figurative level, to the loss of innocence and hope suffered by the husband and two young daughters she leaves behind.
When Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) receives the devastating news, he decides not to tell the girls (Shelan O'Keefe, Gracie Bednarkczyk) right away, choosing instead to take them on a road trip from their home in Minnesota to a favorite amusement park in Florida, as a means of delaying the inevitable for himself as well as giving them one last happy memory before delivering the life-shattering blow. On the way, they meet various people - including Stanley's liberal, antiwar brother (well-played by Alessandro Nivola) - but basically it's a story of this one family's heartbreaking odyssey into gut-wrenching knowledge, an odyssey too many families are forced to take in a time of war.
James C. Strouse`s "Grace is Gone" is a very short (82 minutes), very low-keyed look at how certain individuals cope with tragedy. Many, like Stanley, refuse even to accept the reality of their loss and hope to postpone the day of reckoning as long as possible. However, Stanley, who's ex-military himself, also has to confront the tremendous guilt he feels for having supported not only Grace's choice to serve in Iraq but the Republican policies that led to the war in the first place. Stanley is faced with having to do something no father should ever have to do, and for the time being, he is being forced to hide the truth from not only an exuberant 8-year-old (Dawn) but a far more perceptive 12-year-old (Heidi), who is caught in that unique moment between the naivete of childhood and the knowingness that comes with growing up. She can sense that something's "up," based on her father's slightly off-kilter behavior, but she can't quite put her finger on what it is. Indeed, the conversations between Stanley and Heidi - wherein they wind up communicating far more than just what they say with their words - are the best things in the movie.
And there simply aren't adjectives adequate to describe the miraculous performances of Cusack, O`Keefe and Bednarkczyk in the principal roles. This is an "actors` picture" if ever there was one, and these three extraordinary individuals prove themselves more than equal to the enormously challenging task they`ve been called upon to do.
With its spare settings, self-effacing direction and heartfelt emotions, this is a beautifully understated and moving work that drives home with shattering force the simple truth - one we are all too prone to forget - that not all of war's casualties occur on the battlefield. |
| | This picture is beyond words. After it was finished I turned the TV off and just sat here and was full of many emotions. John Cusack was wonderful. It is a must see for all. |
| Well Acted and Touching Film! | 2009-12-28 | 5 / 5 |
| Grace is Gone is a very real and emotionally touching film of love and loss.
After losing his wife, Grace, a father grieves the loss and ponders how to tell his two children.
Instead, they take a road trip...and he cuts loose a little.
In the process, the three of them grow closer to each other and realize the sacrifice that Grace made for her country.
This is a well-acted film from all involved.
Highly recommended movie! |
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