The Red Right Hand
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THE LOVELY BONES
The Story Of A Life And Everything That Came After..

Director
Peter Jackson

Starring
Saoirse Ronan
Mark Wahlberg
Rachel Weisz
Stanley Tucci

There are two films at work here: an interesting and well-performed drama about a terribly serious and rather disturbing event and the second is a curious pastiche of computer generated imagery. What we end up with is a cross between Mystic River (which is exceptionally good) and What Dreams May Come (which was interesting but average at best). Whilst working as a bookseller, Alice Sebold's novel and biography were two of our bestsellers. I must confess, I haven't read it, primarily because I don't care for the subject matter and I don't read books just because everyone else is. So, unlike a great many unhappy audiences overseas, I have no real bias either way.

The opening forty minutes are extremely well-done; we're introduced to young Susie Salmon [Ronan] and the daily interactions of her early teenage life, nothing overly traumatic or unique, just the average teenage girl in a seventies suburb. All the while, the ominous narration reminds us that Susie is going to die (don't worry, that's not a spoiler). Absolutely everything up until Susie's demise is damned entertaining; tension and suspense are generated with a rich, foreboding score, the humour and wit of our young lead is realistic and identifiable and the family interactions are thoroughly pleasing. What follows is about an hour and a half of fantastical imagery (mostly forest/field based) to explain Susie's whereabouts when all that was necessary was a voiceover accompanying the unfolding drama.

At the helm of this piece are two-three impeccable performances - namely from Ronan and Stanley Tucci (as the creepy neighbour serial killer) and Susie's younger sister, Lindsey played by Rose McIver - there are also a few unusual ones from Mark Wahlberg, Michael Imperioli and Susan Sarandon, who all try their best with such limited 2D characters but ultimately fail. Then there are the visual elements to consider, sure the otherworld stuff is acceptable CGI but every single ounce of it felt wholly unnecessary, especially when compared to the decent cinematography and layout of the real world events. The computer imagery, however, is not the film's biggest flaw. The Lovely Bones suffers the most due to terrible pacing and choppy editing that contorts the plot flow and violently knocks the audience back-and-forth.

I don't necessarily think it was Peter Jackson's fault, The Lovely Bones is just an incredibly difficult novel to adapt that at no point screams to be made into film; it's just another case of a novel never really intended for the screen, which is a shame because the key performances genuinely deserve a mountain of praise and attention.

Release Date:
19th February 2010

The Scene To Look Out For:
With Susie's father, Jack [Wahlberg] badgering the police and his wife Abigail [Weisz] failing to cope, Grandma Lynn [Sarandon] comes to stay, giving Jackson the perfect opportunity to film a 'Crazy Granny' montage. I can't tell you how out of place this felt. I realise it is meant to represent the family moving on and allowing themselves to grief and then get on with their lives but it just felt pointless and ultimately callous.

Notable Characters:
**Spoiler at paragraph's end**
Stanley Tucci's effort to cross the friendly neighbour with the creepy killer is a grand achievement. You may think it odd to praise the work of an actor playing a child molester but his performance is such a methodical one that you can't help but believe it, adding to the overall tension. I would also like to quickly highlight the character's demise. I don't know if I liked it. The audience desperately want lynch mob justice and a strange carnal need demands we witness his gruesome death. Apparently, in the original ending, he simply falls backward off a cliff and that's it but apparently test audiences wanted more. So, what we're treated to is a ninety second extension in which the murderer hits numerous rocks and branches before falling crumpled on the rock face. I didn't like it. Felt too neat. I'm not saying he should have been butchered Saw style but just a little forethought would have been nice.

Highlighted Quote:
"Grandma Lynn predicted I would live a long life because I had saved my brother. As usual, Grandma Lynn was wrong"

In A Few Words:
"Littered with interesting and poignant thoughts about life and death from the perspective of a teenage girl and a handful of decent performances but post production butchery ultimately killed any potential this release may have had"

Total Score:
6/10


Matthew Stogdon