Rabbit Hole

Surprise, a very good surprise! John Cameron Mitchell movie is good, very good indeed. With a theme that has been explored in so many ways is very refreshing that this drama brings something fresh to grieving a little son’s death and does it in a very different way that makes suffering intense but at the same time so natural and so human. Obviously this kind of film could not be that good without extraordinary performances, especially by Nicole Kidman that is the very first role where I see her creating so well a character that’s normal, average, human and so believable. You see Becca, not Nicole Kidman! Excellent!

Called my attention that Kidman was the producer and learned that is the first movie from her production company, Blossom Films, plus was a “passion project for Nicole” to make this film adapted by David Lindsey-Abaire from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play. I don’t know about you but I was able to see Nicole’s passion not only in her extraordinary performance but also with the production and tech specs care, as film has top notch production values and very good cinematography.

I was a little concern as Kidman sometimes does “strange” movies and because John Cameron Mitchell is not exactly a drama director; but very fast, almost since the very first scene knew that I had nothing to be worry and that I will enjoy the ride even when story essence is not one to enjoy but the way they decided to present it made story even uplifting as for me story is positive, not depressing.

In a sense film resembles European cinema and surely got the feeling because is a slice of life as starts in one moment and ends in another; you can tell there is a story before the beginning and there will be a story after the end, but what you saw is more than enough to grab the complete slice of these characters life. This makes the film quite extraordinary for an American film. Very good!

I know Nicole Kidman will get an Oscar nomination for this role and even when I haven’t seen all films that could produce nominations for the best actress category, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins and this time the award will be given to a Nicole that used no prosthetics, that looks like her, and that thanks to her amazing performance she was able to create an intense, emotional character that doesn’t look at all like her ‘real’ persona. Bravo! But she wouldn’t have been able to create such a great character without the supporting roles by surprisingly good Aaron Eckhart in undoubtedly his best performance ever and always excellent Dianne Wiest.

Not a movie to miss as is a very good film with an engaging story, very strong performances and as such I do recommend it to adult audiences that enjoy good adult dramas similar to those American films of another era, like from the 70’s or 80’s.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @MOC (think trailer doesn’t convey how good movie is, so watch at your own risk)