Feature
Review | Moonlight Mile
Written by: Brian
Orndorf
In the gloriously cut trailer for “Moonlight Mile,” the picture
is promoted as a gushy tear-jerker, a film about loss, and how to
grieve in the most primal of ways. But after seeing the film now, I
don’t know what type of picture the Disney advertising boys saw. The
“Moonlight Mile” I saw was a complicated character study on death,
fear, and the grieving process. I mean, I love a good cry now and
again, but “Mile” is something special. It’s an anti-jerk movie
that will wring tears for sure, but earns them instead of groveling
for them.
For parents Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and JoJo (Susan Sarandon), it is
their worst fear realized: their one and only daughter has been gunned
down indiscriminately by a madman. The shooting has left the family in
tiny pieces, but has also left behind one complicated little matter
behind: their future son-in-law Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Donnie Darko”).
With his fiancйe gone, Joe must decided what he wants to do with
his life. Ben wants him to follow in the family business, JoJo wants
him to continue living with them, and Joe just wants to breathe. Help
arrives when Joe meets another girl (Renee Zellweger doppelganger
Ellen Pompeo, in a killer performance) who is also dealing with loss,
and the two find each other halfway. Joe is now stuck in a precarious
position. Will he stay with Ben and JoJo and try to shield himself
away from the pain, or will he follow his heart and try to find love
again where it was once thought impossible?
“Moonlight Mile” was written and directed by Brad Silberling,
and he has taken this story from his very own experiences as the
former boyfriend of actress Rebecca Shaeffer (“My Sister Sam“),
who was murdered by an obsessed fan in 1989. I’m not sure if the
details of Silberling’s own life are truly in this film, as he has
moved the era to the early 1970s, and upped the emotional ante for the
lead characters, but you can feel the heartbreak in every scene of
this film. Coming off his last earnest smash “City Of Angels,”
Silberling’s direction is an acquired taste. He is a filmmaker who
isn’t shy about going for the heart, and backed by a lovely
cavalcade of film professionals, he succeeds more than he fails. I
can’t say that about a lot of other filmmakers who tend to traffick
in the syrup.
Yet “Moonlight Mile” is a strange, very restrained film. There
is no big moment where everything turns out OK, and distinctly no
group hugs either. It’s very cautious, as are the characters, on how
to approach this topic. Just like real life, some scenes are funny,
others sad, but almost all have this undeniable gravity to them that
rewards. With Silberling’s rock solid vision guiding the film,
“Mile” is a treat to watch. It never compromises, never goes for
the big reaction, and ends honestly.
As the parents, both Hoffman and Sarandon are fantastic here.
Granted, these two could do about anything and make it wonderful, but
they make the effort and instill their characters with honest emotions
and reactions to this dire situation. It makes the movie appear almost
like a documentary, though that’s doing a disservice to how lovely
and highly stylized the picture is. It’s also nice to see Hoffman
play someone so real, after years of basically doing an impression of
himself. The two have a nice chemistry with the young Gyllenhaal, who
himself continues to improve as an actor.
“Moonlight Mile” might not be the cathartic experience as
promised by the trailers, but it’s a wonderful film that will
surprise many by how curt it is, and delight the rest with its rare
showing of restraint.
Grade: 9 out of 10
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