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Friday, January 15, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW
The Lovely Bones

Here, There, But Exactly Where?  A Lovely Mess That Works


Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon in "The Lovely Bones", directed by Peter Jackson.  The film opened across the U.S. and Canada today.   Paramount Pictures

By Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
Friday, January 15, 2010

Peter Jackson bravely returns to a non-epic film (but with epic length) with "The Lovely Bones", opening in theaters across the country today after being pulled from its Christmas 2009 release by Paramount Pictures.  Mr. Jackson's film is based on the famous best-selling book by Alice Sebold, which this reviewer hasn't read. 

It is Connecticut, early 1970s (or later) and Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) recalls the days of her life leading up to her disappearance and subsequent murder.  She repeatedly revisits the scene of her last moments like a tortured angel, trying to put the pieces of a mysterious puzzle together for the audience.  Her parents Jack (Mark Wahlberg) and Abigail (Rachel Weisz) mostly ignore or neglect her, and restrict the number of rolls of Kodak film Susie can develop at a time.  It's essentially a joyless existence for Susie, who's experiencing adolescence.  There are numerous suspects to consider in Susie's demise, but it appears that only one person can solve her murder. 

While "The Lovely Bones" suffers from an over-stylizing that paralyzes its narrative, considering Mr. Jackson's landscapes from the "Rings" trilogy, it actually works as an atmospheric endeavor.  The sights of purgatory, of an Eden-like existence and a hellish tomb contained in the basement of one prime suspect are all compelling though occasionally exhaustive.  Still, as an ethereal mystery thriller filled with haunting and sometimes jarring imagery, Mr. Jackson's film achieves a difficult goal: telling a largely unappealing story through the eyes of a young girl who has been dead for the entire film.  (Within the first moments of the film you know that Susie, like William Holden's character in "Sunset Boulevard", is as dead as a doornail, so there's no spoiler here.)

Susie has the pulse of every detail of her life on tap, and her character mixes an idealism and astuteness that is mature, for sure.  While "The Lovely Bones" isn't especially entertaining, Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement") is effective and disturbing as Susie, as her translucent skin allows us to seemingly watch every sinew of her anguished body writhe in pain and despair. 

Mr. Jackson's film, if anything, is guilty of being 30 minutes too long and miscast.  Mr. Wahlberg and Oscar winner Rachel Weisz don't belong at all.  Both are disappointing here and convey neither chemistry nor conviction.  Susan Sarandon is a breath of fresh air as Susie's grandmother, but even she is miscast.

Mr. Jackson does his best Alfred Hitchcock impression in one scene, but many audiences will find that "The Lovely Bones" is overwrought and stuffed with visual effects.  True, but I appreciated the film's intentions and good faith.  As a teenage story it works as adolescent agony.  All told, "The Lovely Bones" is good but far from great.  An acquired taste, but one that audiences may well latch on to a few years down the road.


With: Rose McIver, Michael Imperioli, Reece Ritchie, Stanley Tucci, Amanda Michalka, Carolyn Dando.

"The Lovely Bones"
is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language.  The film's running time is two hours and 15 minutes. 

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