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Things We Lost in the Fire
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Review #547 of 365
Movie Review of Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) [R] 119 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 16 October 2007
Time: 7:00 pm
DVD Release Date: 4 March 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Soundtrack: Download now from 
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Directed by: Susanne Bier (After the Wedding)
Written by: Allan Loeb ("New Amsterdam")
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Halle Berry (Perfect Stranger) • Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) • David Duchovny (Trust the Man) • Alexis Llewellyn (The Chronicles of Riddick) • Micah Berry (debut) • John Carroll Lynch (Zodiac) • Alison Lohman (Flicka)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to see photos from the Premiere of Things We Lost in the Fire
Director Susanne Bier points her lens deeply into the lives of a family rocked by tragedies and the coping mechanisms of the matriarch left to deal with the aftermath. Halle Berry in the second leading role for her this year, plays the mother of two kids: Harper (Alexis Llewellyn) and Dory (Micah Berry) who face the sudden murder of their father during an evening ice cream run. They expect him to go out and come back with treats, instead, he never comes back. The police arrive with the grim news, and Audrey (Halle Berry) suddenly finds herself the victim of a tsunami of emotions. She plans the funeral quickly with the help of her supportive mother, brother, and neighbor, Howard Glassman (John Carroll Lynch). At the last minute, she remembers she's failed to invite the only other person outside the family to whom the event would be most meaningful, her husband Steven's childhood best friend, Jerry Sunborne (Benicio Del Toro). Her brother agrees to go and both deliver the news and attempt to bring him to the wake. At first, Jerry is convinced it's a prank. The man who had been his brother more than friend couldn't possibly have been murdered. Flashbacks reveal that Steven (David Duchovny) was heading back to his car with the ice cream as he happened upon an alarming conflict between a husband and wife. He's beating on her, as she's trying to escape. Being the good Samaritan he is, Steven intervenes to try to break things up, and in a moment of utter, demonic rage, the husband shoots him. Next we see all three dead on the ground around Steven's car. The husband has shot his wife and himself—three deaths for the price of one. When Audrey first sees Jerry, she's relieved, but time will show that her emotions and feelings toward him are incredibly conflicted.
" a bit plodding at times, not as dramatically charged as it could have been, and understated while artistically unabashed…a ponderously interesting film and study of how a family grieves together."
A former attorney and current heroine addict, Jerry was her husband's refuge from the routine of his life. As much as he clearly loved and adored his wife and kids, Jerry was his wild side he never wanted to let go of. The two had been in cahoots as pals since 7th grade, and they knew everything about each other, event things that he never shared with Audrey were common knowledge among them. And for all of this, Audrey was resentful and bitter, but she was also curious as to how or why her husband could be so drawn to him all these years. Her animosity became overwhelmed by her curiosity eventually prompting her to 'rescue' him from his latest plummet off the wagon and back into drugs. She invites him to live in their spare room in the garage newly refinished after a fire had consumed it and destroyed nearly all of their keepsakes and mementos—hence the title of the film, Things We Lost in the Fire. The film then becomes a soul-searching trip through the grief that consumes a family torn apart by the death of beloved member. Is Audrey using Jerry to fill some voids left by her husband's gigantic shoes? Does she really want to help him with is drug problem? Is this altruism or a nasty form of symbiosis known as parasitism? Probably both. As for Jerry, there's something about him. Everyone who meets him, despite the obvious physical signs of him having a terrible drug problem, adores him almost instantly. There's something innocent and kind, daring and dangerous, introspective and significant about him. Harper and Dory fall in love with him overnight. Moments after moving in, Howard Glassman has him running with him in the mornings just as he used to do with Steven. For a time, it seems actually, like Audrey might make it through this and deal with her pain and grief. For a time. There will still be much more pain to come, as Allan Loeb's script would be anything except simple.
Stylistically, Susanne Bier seems to like long pauses on people's eyes and faces. Serving as windows to the soul, peering into a person's eyes can tell you a lot about them. The absence of much in them can be equally revealing. Likewise, she allows the story to take its time. She doesn't rush things. Her hand throttles back the story any time it seems like it might stir the emotions too much. In so doing, she's created a world for Audrey where time nearly stands still. The emotionally draining series of circumstances she faces show in her, and she must wrestle to regain a sense of self as well as solve the needs of her children. Halle Berry really put herself into this role absorbing the vulnerability and grief like a bone-dry sponge. She proves again the depth of her capacity as an actress. Meanwhile, Benicio Del Toro is absolutely unreal. This is unlike any role he's ever played before, and it affords him the opportunity to show his more humane qualities as an actor as well. The impact he has on his fellow characters is likely to be the same as the one he has on viewers. Ironically, this was more of a role you might picture Owen Wilson playing beautifully, but Benicio Del Toro transforms himself way beyond anything he's done before to portray this incredibly complex character. The kids, Alexis Llewellyn and Micah Berry, with matching mop top hair, are also brilliant in the film. Look for Michah Berry to have a pretty spectacular career ahead of him. There's something about his infections smile and button nose, and that hair. But, his adorable little kid looks aside, he acts with his eyes, and that is the most miraculous ability of all especially for a little guy. Allison Lohman also appears in the film as the possible love interest for Jerry whom he meets at one of his meetings. Hopefully, she'll be given more opportunities to showcase her talents as she, too, has the right stuff.
Things We Lost in the Fire plays out well. Though it's a bit plodding at times, not as dramatically charged as it could have been, and understated while artistically unabashed, it's still a ponderously interesting film and study of how a family grieves together. Real life is filled with tragedy. Some people cope better than others, but the goal should be, eventually, when the time is right, for people actually to be able to move on. So doing does not disrespect the lost loved one, rather it's an essential piece of honoring their passing.
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Cast Members
Halle Berry • Benicio Del Toro • David Duchovny
Alexis Llewellyn • Micah Berry • John Carroll Lynch
Alison Lohman
Director
Susanne Bier
Writer
Allan Loeb
Review-lite
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) [max of 150 words]
Halle Berry plays Audrey Burke, a newly widowed mother who has to cope with the death of her husband while guiding her two young children, Harper and Dory. Her dead husband's childhood best friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro) resurface into her life testing her faith in her husband and herself. Susanne Bier directs this emotionally engaging drama so called, because the family had previously lost most of their keepsakes and belongings to a fire. Her style is very artistically engaging with long pauses and still shots that reveal the depth of the heartache of the central characters in a a profoundly moving way.
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