Interesting double bill...
Jul. 10th, 2011 06:40 pmThis week, LoveFilm saw fit to send me Rabbit Hole and Easy A - back to their weird and wonderful combinations!
I really enjoyed both, which was a surprise, since I couldn't remember why I had wanted to watch either.
Rabbit Hole is interesting because the tragedy (the death of the central couple's four-year-old son) happens eight months before the movie starts, so it's much less about the event itself than it is about the aftermath. I often think films and books miss out on a decent portrayal of aftermath, so it was good to see it dealt with in so much depth here. What I liked even more was that the effect of the tragedy wasn't confined to the parents - the film showed effectively how it impacted on their families, friends, and also the teenage boy who was behind the wheel of the car that killed the child. It's not a particularly eventful film, but that's at least partially the point - it's about how life goes inexorably on. Very well acted by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.
Easy A is an American high school movie about the power of gossip and how people's perceptions of you can affect you even if they are wildly inaccurate. It's well done, and entertaining, the high points being any scene featuring the main character's parents (Stanley Tucci on fine form, in particular), who are fantastically open-minded but also comfortingly supportive. Emma Stone pretty much has to carry the entire film, and does so with aplomb, making for an appealing heroine, and the whole thing is very well put together.
I really enjoyed both, which was a surprise, since I couldn't remember why I had wanted to watch either.
Rabbit Hole is interesting because the tragedy (the death of the central couple's four-year-old son) happens eight months before the movie starts, so it's much less about the event itself than it is about the aftermath. I often think films and books miss out on a decent portrayal of aftermath, so it was good to see it dealt with in so much depth here. What I liked even more was that the effect of the tragedy wasn't confined to the parents - the film showed effectively how it impacted on their families, friends, and also the teenage boy who was behind the wheel of the car that killed the child. It's not a particularly eventful film, but that's at least partially the point - it's about how life goes inexorably on. Very well acted by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.
Easy A is an American high school movie about the power of gossip and how people's perceptions of you can affect you even if they are wildly inaccurate. It's well done, and entertaining, the high points being any scene featuring the main character's parents (Stanley Tucci on fine form, in particular), who are fantastically open-minded but also comfortingly supportive. Emma Stone pretty much has to carry the entire film, and does so with aplomb, making for an appealing heroine, and the whole thing is very well put together.