In the Bedroom

by Miramax

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Average Rating: * * * half star -
Sales Rank:7032 (lower is better)
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Director:Todd Field
Release Date:2002-08-13
Label:Miramax
UPC:786936180817
Binding:DVD
Published By:Miramax
ASIN:B000067J3S
Category:DVD

Actors and Actresses

Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions

Description

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture (2001), this universally acclaimed film features Academy Award-winners Sissy Spacek (Best Actress 1980, COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER, 1980) and Marisa Tomei (Best Supporting Actress 1992, MY COUSIN VINNIE), and Academy Award-nominee Tom Wilkinson (Best Actor, IN THE BEDROOM, 2001). When young Frank Fowler (Nick Stahl) becomes romantically involved with an older single mother (Tomei), his parents (Spacek and Wilkinson) are concerned. But when the relationship takes a sudden and tragic turn, the Fowlers are forced to confront the harsh reality of their situation and the inescapable consequences of their actions. An uncommonly suspenseful and disturbing film powered by a remarkable cast, IN THE BEDROOM has been hailed by critics everywhere as one of the year's finest motion pictures.
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When a film with such emotional resonance and visual poise as In the Bedroom makes it to the screen, it seems an unexpected gift meant to remind us of the medium's possibility for sensitivity and epiphany. First-time director Todd Field, who adapted the film from a story by Andre Dubus with screenwriter Rob Festinger, quietly observes the loss, rage, and inexorable desire for revenge that follows the murder of a 21-year-old son. The film opens with Frank (Nick Stahl), back from college for the summer, taking up with Natalie (Marisa Tomei), a slightly older, sexually alluring woman with two boys and an estranged husband prone to violence. It is the tender portrayal of love between Frank and his parents, even as Frank and Natalie's relationship reveals the prejudices of all involved, that makes the subsequent anguish of the film so acute. Matt and Ruth Fowler (Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek), middle-class denizens of a Maine lobster town where everyone knows each other, toil through weeks of devastation and blame following Frank's murder before their outrage obliterates all else. Field's exact handling of jealousy, class division, and grief is abetted by career-highlight performances from Wilkinson and Spacek. In the Bedroom is, along with You Can Count On Me, one of the best American dramas to grace the new millennium so far. --Fionn Meade

Customer Reviews

A rather languorous film that just didn't add up - Reviewed on 2008-12-15
* * *

With this many reviews, the basic plot has been examined as well as the main characters. A husband and wife lose their son to a murder, and the murderer is out on bail, still running into the parents, friends and family of the victim.

So, they decided (finally) to take matters into their own hands. Never mind they leave so many loose ends it's going to lead back to them in about 15 minutes, perhaps they can accept going to prison to make sure their son's killer doesn't get away with murder.

I'm not buying it. Why go against everything you've stood for your whole life by giving into the same impulses? Doesn't make any sense.

As for the killer, he should have known you NEVER get into a car with anyone with a gun. You run, shouting Fire!, Fire!. That's your best bet. Otherwise, the gunman controls where you go and how you end up.

Interesting only for the wonderful atmospherics of the Maine location. Makes me long for another visit.
"Did you do it?" - Reviewed on 2008-10-18
* * * *
2 customers found this review helpful.

As the story opens in a Maine lobster town, we meet young Matt Fowler, home from college for the summer, who has fallen in love with an older divorcee with two children. Although Matt says it's not serious, his parents are worried. And the woman's ex-husband is a violent man.

The title, "In the Bedroom," refers not to torrid love scenes but is slang for "in a lobster trap;" early on we learn that if two male lobsters are "in the bedroom" with a female, the males will tear each other apart. That's the plot, in a nutshell. Tom Wilkerson and Sissy Spacek play Matt's parents; he's good in a stiff-upper-lip way, but she still looks like Carrie to me and didn't ring true. William Mapother ("Ethan" in Lost) is absolutely chilling as the brutal ex-husband.

While the grieving process is honestly portrayed with its silences, recriminations, and desire for revenge, I felt the impact was lessened by the complete lack of background music. The pain that the parents go through just wasn't real enough to really touch me. 3.5 stars.
In The Trap - Reviewed on 2008-07-27
* * * * *

2001 was a banner year for film noir, with "The Man Who Wasn't There", "Mulholland Dr.", "Memento", and Richard Dutcher's "Brigham City." Add to these Todd Field's "In The Bedroom" which I finally saw this week. It's a meticulously constructed, suspenseful film where every line of dialog and shot has significance. It concerns Sissy Spacek (who pulls off a tricky performance that may get her another Oscar), an upper-middle-class woman whose promising college age son becomes involved with a working-class older woman (Marisa Tomei) with a couple of young kids and a glowering soon-to-be ex-husband. There are some surprises to be had, including a screeching big one right in the middle of the movie which I shall not reveal (although many critics ignorantly have.) Suffice it to say that the moral fault (or responsibility) is not where you initially think it is. The film is based on a short story by Andre Dubus, an explicitly Catholic writer. At one point in the film a priest offers a vision of faith as as healing and redemptive force (which is sadly not accepted). The movie is ultimately about the absolute necessity of faith and forgiveness for spiritual survival in the face of the most extreme, murderous human situations. Think of it as a Catholic companion to Dutcher's "Brigham City."
A good sleep aid - Reviewed on 2008-02-13
*
7 customers found this review not to be helpful.
If you are tossing and turning in bed and can't get to sleep I highly recommend you watch this movie. It is so slow and boring that you will be fast asleep in a matter of minutes. Good thing I didn't put out money for this DVD. I checked it out of the library. So on the cover that it was nominated for awards. Who are these people that nominated this movie for an award anyway? The only redeeming quality of this movie was that the acting was good. Otherwise don't waste your money or your time. I wish that I could give this movie less than a star rating.
Could not even finish it - Reviewed on 2008-01-29
*
8 customers found this review not to be helpful.
I don't understand the hype. This was literally one of the most boring things I have ever watched. March of the Penguins had more emotion... From the very first scene I wanted to shut it off. It was excrutiating and I am not exagerating. There have been very few times where I actually had to turn a movie off and not finish watching it ever. This was one of them.
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