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Grace Is Gone
Availability:
In Stock
Price:
$19.95
$2.35*
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| Part No: | B0013D8LBS |
| Manufacturer: | Weinstein Company |
| MFG Part: | 81172 |
| 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.
| 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! |
| An amazing emotional film | 2009-11-20 | 5 / 5 |
| | Grace is Gone does for the tear jerker genre what Paranormal Activity did for scary movies. It's a film that actually comes through on its premise. John Cusack is far outside of his normal character and an emotional freight train. The two girls that play his daughters are each in their own rights charming, believable and devastating. I love this movie even though it is one of the hardest things I've ever watched. I couldn't wait to purchase this masterpiece so my wife could watch it as I knew it would devastate her as it had me. Nothing like torturing the wife!!! |
| A one-note expression of grief that never seems to register... | 2009-10-27 | 2 / 5 |
| I've been anticipating this movie since, well, early 2007 when John Cusack was rumored to be heading for an Oscar nomination. I have never really been a huge Cusack fan (at least not John, for I have always adored his sister Joan) but there was something about the plot and concept of this film that just really spoke to me. I love these somber character studies, and grief is one of the most emotionally connective ways to study someone's character.
Conceptually, `Grace is Gone' has promise, but the way in which the film is constructed turns that promise in an empty gesture.
The film revolves around Stanley Phillips, a former soldier who, because of poor eyesight, has been reduced to department store manager. While his wife is overseas, fighting the war he wishes he could fight, Stanley raises their two daughters, Heidi and Dawn. When word comes that Grace, his wife, has died, Stanley struggles with his own feelings as well as when and how to tell his daughters. Instead of just `telling' them, Stanley decides to take them on a trip, driving from Minnesota to Florida to visit a theme park.
For me, and I know I'm in the minority here, the film feels very bland. It comes across like a `made for television' movie, very middle of the road and amateurish. The performances are all decent, but nothing truly admirable (except Alessandro Nivola, who has a small but important part, and he plays it flawlessly). John Cusack's approach to grief is very one-note. He just looks grumpy throughout the entire film. In fact, the films conclusion is the only part to remotely works for me, for it shows a father actually being a father. Yes, I understand that grief is a very tumultuous thing, and it affects people differently; I just wish that Cusack had found the layers within his character. It is preposterous to conclude that his daughters wouldn't figure out what was going on; I mean, their father doesn't even shower. It was an overstated depiction of grief to me. I have seen people shut down when a loved one dies, but when you have children you can't really `shut down' to the extent that Stanley does.
It feels like a performance, not something genuine. Watch Tom Wilkinson in `In the Bedroom' for an accurate and stunning portrayal of grief.
The other aspect of the film that I found rather distracting was the way it couldn't clearly decide what film it wanted to be. It fluctuated between a film about grief to a film about war, and I think that the political stand it was trying to make actually took away from the film. It is a part of Stanley that needed to be expressed in order to flesh out his character, and so I respect that decision, but they needed more time to make it feel more than just a random expression. The film is barely over an hour in length and so it almost feels simplistic, never really `going there' as it needed to in order to make either of the films two primary topics connect with the viewer.
I've read some complaints (not here necessarily) about the way in which the climax is delivered to the audience. Personally, the films conclusion is the best part of the film. The way the dialog is stripped during the theme park scene (and another pertinent scene) and the facial expressions (happy or sad) are allowed to do all the talking for us was truly inspired and beautifully tailored to elicit our deepest emotional sympathies. Yes, I broke down in tears at the final scene (which did feel more manipulated than anything else) but one small speckle of brilliance (I don't consider the manipulated emotions brilliance, but the two scenes leading up to it are) doesn't make the film worth watching. There are far better films that tackle this subject (`In the Bedroom' for one) and so I'd recommend you watch one of those. |
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