Murdered Susie Salmon lingers in limbo to avenge her own killer in The Lovely Bones, a good adaptation of Alice Sebold's strange, captivating novel by the same name. Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) directs.
Talented Saoirse Ronan plays 14-year-old Susie, "trapped in a perfect world" just like the snow globe penguin that fascinated her as a baby. Frustration far outweighs wonder for Susie as time and space shifts uneasily.
Susie moves ceaselessly from scenes of resplendent technicolor to murky decay. As in the novel, there's a yearning for justice and healing that keeps us fascinated.
The girl seems more human than ghost. Susie cannot control things as she did on earth, but she can watch and wait. She loves her past furiously. If she focuses on them strongly enough, those who once knew her will feel her present. Her father (Mark Wahlberg) and brother Buckley (Christian Thomas Ashdale) manage to see her just for a moment.
Ronan was Oscar nominated for Atonement's treacherous, despicable Briony. In The Lovely Bones, she's a sweet teenager who's no saint, but is fundamentally good.
The girl seems more human than ghost. Susie cannot control things as she did on earth, but she can watch and wait. She loves her past furiously. If she focuses on them strongly enough, those who once knew her will feel her present. Her father (Mark Wahlberg) and brother Buckley (Christian Thomas Ashdale) manage to see her just for a moment.
Ronan was Oscar nominated for Atonement's treacherous, despicable Briony. In The Lovely Bones, she's a sweet teenager who's no saint, but is fundamentally good.
The space between who Susie could have been and who she is now aches. She is too nice and trusts too much, which is why she allowed George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) to lure her into an underground shrine he built beneath a cornfield.
Jackson succeeds amazingly well in adapting a complex novel to the screen. His achievement is similar to that of What Dreams May Come. Although Jackson has been criticized for sanitizing violence, it seems fitting that he's created a PG-13 film that teenagers like Susie and Ray can watch. There's enough darkness here that viewers can imagine the rest.
Jackson succeeds amazingly well in adapting a complex novel to the screen. His achievement is similar to that of What Dreams May Come. Although Jackson has been criticized for sanitizing violence, it seems fitting that he's created a PG-13 film that teenagers like Susie and Ray can watch. There's enough darkness here that viewers can imagine the rest.
Jackson relies too heavily upon Susie's dreamy world to build suspense. This film already overflows with tense foreboding. Second, Susie's clairvoyance about her family, friends and Mr. Harvey is overdone. The victim's narration distracts when we can see it for ourselves.
Best Supporting Actor nominee Stanley Tucci evokes terrific horror as the oddball loner who sits alone in his white station wagon. Surrounded by crafts and hobbies in his stale home, he's a pervert who hides his sickness well. There's a superb scene where Harvey and Detective Len Fenerman (Michael Imperioli) peer at each other through the windows of a dollhouse built by the killer. Fenerman simply cannot find any evidence to arrest Harvey.
Wahlberg sinks into obsession after his daughter's apparent murder. Unfortunately Rachel Weisz has a limited role as Abigail Salmon. Missing are the years where the mother abandons her family to work alongside sharecroppers in northern Carlifornia vineyards.
With a drink in her hand and a fur stole around her shoulders, Susan Sarandon brings comic relief as flamboyant Grandma Lynn. She holds the family together in Abigail's absence. Rose McIver plays Lindsey, Susie's foolishly brave sister who never stops seeking the truth.
Finally it's social misfit Ruth Conners (Carolyn Dando) who Susie visits towards the end of film. Ruth believes so fervently in life after death that she permits Susie to enter her body to visit Ray Singh (Reece Ritchie). What could have been disturbing glimmers with hungry innocence as Susie and Ray kiss and hold each other.
For a more direct, unsentimental look at murder, we'll have to turn to Sebold's book.
The Lovely Bones 2009 / PG-13 / 2 hrs, 15 min
Cast Overview: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli, Amanda Michalka, Thomas McCarthy
For a more direct, unsentimental look at murder, we'll have to turn to Sebold's book.
The Lovely Bones 2009 / PG-13 / 2 hrs, 15 min
Cast Overview: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli, Amanda Michalka, Thomas McCarthy
Director: Peter Jackson
Genres: Drama, Crime Drama, Thriller, Movie Based on the Book
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