In The Bedroom (2001) 6/10

Starring : Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother
Director : Todd Field
Running Time : 125 mins

Frank Fowler (Stahl) is a college kid who is dating an older woman, Natalie Strout (Tomei), who has two small children and a soon to be ex-husband, Richard (Mapother), but Richard’s attitude towards Frank and Natalie’s relationship leads to a tragedy which leaves Nick’s mother and father, Frank (Wilkinson) and Ruth (Spacek) picking up the pieces.

This is a powerful drama which takes a tragedy and dwells on it for most of the duration of the film. This is handles quite well, and shows the varying ways in which friends and loved ones cope with loss, but there really wasn’t enough substance for my liking. There are good performances from all, but the story needed to be fleshed out more and, in spite of a running time of over two hours, the ending did seem a little rushed and really creeps up on you.

You’ll like this if you liked : Candy