The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009)
Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Rachel Weisz
Centres on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from purgatory. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.
I know it’s a genre film, and I’m not supposed to take it this seriously, but I think full engagement with this film requires a willing suspension of disbelief in the unlikelihood of (the Roman Catholic doctrine of) purgatory.
As you would expect in any film supervised by Peter Jackson, all the technical stuff is really good. Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie is of course to die for.
There's another superb performance by Saoirse Ronan, who really owns the film. Stanley Tucci is excellent, but he's in the realist aspect of the film - which is unfortunately overwhelmed by the supernatural bullshit. Mark Wahlberg should not have been cast in this, or in any other film that I can remember him in.
IMDb page
Saoirse Ronan (b. 1994) was nominated for Best Actress Oscar for Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015). She played Briony, a key character in Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007).
Stanley Tucci (b. 1960) was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this in 2010. He played Mitchell Garabedian, a leading role in Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2016) which won Best Film Oscar in 2016.
Wikipedia page for Lynne Ramsay, who should have directed the film.
Garry Gillard | New: 8 March, 2017 | Now: 21 February, 2020