The Lovely Bones has been marketed in its previews as a bit of murder whodunit (albeit one that is being partly solved by the murder victim herself-14 year old Susie Salmon who is caught between worlds as it were ) and after sitting through this somewhat overlong mismatch romp of heaven fantasy,serial killing, ghosts, grief and teenage longing. I can understand just why the publicity team pitched this movie the way they did.The film, put quite simply, is a bit of a mess.
Putting aside the overlong surreal glimpses into the over coloured,imagery laden pre heaven world, the film's study of a family going through a life changing grief is fascinating yet all too brief.
Mark Walberg and Rachel Weisz give solidly moving performances as the parents; Rose McLver is quite spunky as Susie's younger sister and the fabulous Susan Sarandon looks as though she had great fun playing the booze ridden,big haired grandmother who single handedly keeps the family together.A film that concentrated upon the family and their journey after the murder would have , for me, made for a better movie, but I guess wouldn't have kept to the "spirit" of the novel, a novel, which I am sure I would have hated.
So we have overlong shots of Susie ( a great performance by Saoirse Ronan by the way) looking wistfully into the strange heaven skyline while fighting against the urge not to walk away into the light.
We have the serial Killer (Stanley Tucci) planning his next murder.
and we have the odd girl next to the rubbish dump who has "visions" of what may or may not be going on.....couple this with a rather uncomfortably long lead up to the murder, and a slasher movie,( he-knows-you-are-hiding-upstairs) teenage girl chase sequence and you have seen everything
It's all a bit much.
6/10
The book is a good read - different yes - but I'm sure you would enjoy it
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think I'll pass.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, don't think I'll bother with that one then
ReplyDeleteI heard great thinks about the book and that the movie was a waste.
ReplyDeleteSome books are trashed by the movie as I'm sure everyone knows. The Lightening Thief is another book that has lately been made into a poor movie.
Hmmm I think I'll wait till it comes out on dvd.
ReplyDeleteThanks john
xx
I bought my daughter the book as she wants to se the film which I saw got awful reviews. I read another by Alice Sewbold & found it very dark & disturbing. I may read lovely bones after daughter when she finally gets her nose out of all the teen Vampire themed books !!!
ReplyDeleteAs regards vet bills it goes with the territory - we gasp and pay up.
I do not want to occur big bills for the hens - it's lovely having them & selling a couple of boxes of eggs but I won't add to my little hen family & I won't replace them when they are gone.
As it is we can't go away without getting a cat / dog sitter !!!
I have no real desire to see it. You weren't very convincing on the positive side. Mike would see it, but that's just cause of Wahlberg. Whatever. I noticed on your last post everyone said poor Gloria. No sympathy for the hungover, eh? LOL
ReplyDelete~Randy
I know...I was dying!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI read the book when it first came out. I could not put it down. Being a bit of a recluse I will wait for the DVD or view on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteThank GOD I am not the only one who felt that way! Phew!
ReplyDeleteI thought to myself when I watched it two nights ago-either my taste in film has really changed, or this movie is a horrible, long mess.
p.s. But I did LOVE Susan in it-the boozey, too-young to be a grandmama role fit her to a t.
ReplyDelete