The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009): USA/UK/New Zealand

Reviewed by Danae Thomas. Viewed at The Santa Barbara International Film Festival , Metro 4 Theater.

The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009) is an excellent drama film where the actor Stanley Tucci who plays George Harvey got nominated for Best Performance an Actor in a Supporting Role. I found the characters in this film interesting with their unique personalities which kept me eager with anticipation of what they would do next. Along with the characters is the plot which had exciting and suspenseful events that kept myself and the audience intrigued to keep watching.

The character of Susie Salmon played by Saoirse Ronan who was also in Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) is a creative, bright young girl who has a strong interest in photography and poetry. Even though Susie is an intelligent girl she is deceived by a stranger and ends up sadly getting murdered . The rest of her family is completely devastated and her mother tries to avoid the fact that her daughter is gone while the father tries to solve the mystery of who killed his little girl. Meanwhile Susie is caught between letting go of the valuable people in her life on Earth such as: her family, her murderer, her crush Ray, and being able to continue a new life in Heaven.

The themes that are involved in this film include: revenge, letting go of relationships, and solving mysteries. While Susie is torn between the priceless people left on Earth and progressing on to life in Heaven; she has anger towards her killer because he/she took her life away and because of that Susie wants revenge and wants her murderer dead. Susie’s father and mother can’t let go of the fact that their daughter is dead, Susie’s mother goes to work at a field crop farm while her dad tries to find out who the killer is.

The acting in this film is quite convincing as it’s difficult not to feel remorse for the Salmon family as Susie is a young innocent 14 year old who is killed. Susie’s mother Abigail Salmon sobs when she finds out what happened to her daughter and Jack Susie’s father becomes enraged as he destroys one by one the glass ships that he and Susie put together. When Susie finds out that she is dead and was murdered her face turns into a screaming expression and her body dissolves away. The mise-en-scene in this film is extraordinary with the images of Susie’s world when she leaves Earth with its colorful birds, bright green grass, and wide sparkling Blue Ocean.

If you are a person who can enjoy a drama that deals with close relationships between characters and can relate to the feeling of loosing someone valuable in your life then you will enjoy this film. There was a Q and A after this film where they had an interview with Stanley Tucci and he said something that caught my attention which was: “once you get to know characters you can tell what they’re feeling.” While watching this film it was clear to know what these characters were feeling just by looking at their powerful facial expressions.

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Published:
02.20.10 / 1am
Category:
Films, Santa Barbara Film Festival 2010