Written by: Bryan Sipe
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A customer service rep and her son help a banker rebuild his life after the death of his wife.
Verdict
Amazing writing, directing, and acting. It's an amazing look at how one deals with grief. It's quite a journey with more than a few truly amazing scenes. I was engrossed from start to finish. I wasn't sure where this could go, but it's an amazing ride with a fitting conclusion. This movie is small in scope, but completely engrossing we see grief manifested.
Watch It.
Review
This grabs you from the very first scene. What an opening, wow.
I love the premise of how someone deals with grief. Davis's (Jake Gyllenhaal) grief manifests as a letter to a vending machine company about a faulty machine.
Everyone reacts differently. While this focuses on Davis, we see how others react too.
Hence the title, Davis begins dismantling appliances at first trying to fix them and then just wanting to see how it works. Davis even mentions the metaphor. He's in essence dismantling his life to see how it works. The death of his wife made him see the world differently. He awoke from the stupor that was his daily grind and began to take stock of his life. He got his nice job because of his father in law. He wasn't even sure why he was married. He wonders if he loved his wife, but throughout the movie he thinks about her. The movie doesn't give us a clear cut answer on that. I think Davis definitely loved his wife. It's why his thoughts continually drift back to her. He's just remorseful that he didn't pay more attention to her. He was always preoccupied and neglectful. His grief his guilt, and that feeling displaces his love.
Now he's taking the time to see how thins work, to really see the world. This movie really captures something about grief and life. This movie absolutely nails so many small moments, like his small recollections of his childhood. The scene where he steps on a nail is masterful.
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| Amazing movie exploring grief and showcasing Gyllenhall's talent. |
This takes a strange turn when he develops a platonic relationship with the customer service representative from the vending machine company, but in the context of this movie it works.
This movie is full of amazing scenes. It's really incredible. We see another scene where Davis takes joy in pain. He just wants to feel something, anything. Only in immense pain does he feel any amount of life. Every time I think I've seen the best scene in the movie, another scene trumps it. Davis's extended dance is free and unrestrained by the bounds of society. Nothing he's done in this movie would be considered normal, but that's part of grief. There isn't one way to manifest it.
Gyllenhaal is incredible. He typically picks really neat roles and delivers. I wondered if the end had any hope of living up to this movie, but then I wasn't even sure how to end it. I reached a point where it had provided so many amazing scenes that it didn't matter. This movie delivers more than one twist that changes the tone.
In the final scene we're left to wonder if he's okay. Will he return to being normal? He's obviously dealt with his grief, but now he has to start over.
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