“Well so far I’ve kept up with my uber movie watching plan for the weekend. Although I flip flopped the agenda for today and tomorrow. Id intended to catch Rabbit Hole at the Common on the way home from work, but decided that the walk would do me good today. I blame the chill for my laziness in not walking back as well, as originally intended.
Rabbit Hole is making its way onto a lotta award season must lists because of Nicole Kidman’s performance as a mother coping with the loss of her son. Yes, she was great, and I wont pout if she gets the inevitable Oscar nod. However, it’s all just so expected of her. I did love her character, but I think I would be more excited about an amazing performance from her if she did more fun roles on the side. I dont wanna go comparing her to people, but I will say that the thing that officially made Meryl Streep my favorite actress was the fact that she did Doubt and Mamma Mia in the same year.
While I may have only been moderately impressed with Kidman, the one who really blew me away was Aaron Eckhart. Now really, isnt it time for him to add Academy Award Nominee to his name in movie trailers? He wowed me with Thank You For Smoking, and I’ve loved him since. Sadly, his race is a lot tighter this year, but I’ll still sing his praises here. His performance was so heartfelt yet intense, so believable I was just lost in it.
Little more context before I continue gushing. Partway through the film, I was starting to feel like it may be a little too “”adult”” for me, meaning that I really couldnt relate to the subject matter at all (not that I would ever want to know firsthand what this couple was going to). Its not unlike the feeling I get watching Sondheim’s Company. I can appreciate it for what it is, but it doesnt resonate. Then the next scene started and it was this big emotional screaming fight between Kidman and Eckhart. I started to feel a little choked up. Then I took notice of the situation and sat back with a “”holy \m/””. Yeah. Now you believe the power of this cast?
Should also point out that I loved Dianne Wiest. She started off with a hint of show-stealing-elderly-character but then grew into someone much deeper than that, and so insightful. She becamse the cute little old lady who had the wisdom of her age.
As is often the case with these adaptations, Im curious as to how it played out on stage. It worked well as a film. Did feel a little bare (typical in this situation) but the powerhouse cast carried it incredibly well. And then once I IBDB-ed it and found out that the b’way cast included John Slattery and John Gallagher Jr that made me wish even more that I’d seen it. When I was thinking about this, I realized that while the thought of seeing the stage version after the movie intrigues me, the other way around frightens the \m/ out of me. For example, I dont care if its Roman Polanski directing a cast that includes Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet, I am scared shitless about how the God of Carnage film is gonna turn out. That show was so \m/ brilliant. When I saw it, the cast included Lucy Liu and Jeff Daniels.
What I did love about the writing was some of the mystery in how things unfolded. One scene would cryptically reference an event or person, everyone on screen would react, then it’d be a little while until it was revealed. I like that. Although, I wonder, if I hadnt known the premise, how long would it have taken me to figure out? It was a good while until they mentioned the son.
Right. So Rabbit Hole was definitely very heavy, but if you want to see some top notch performances, it is definitely worth checking out. Just be sure you’re in the mood for it.
Rabbit Hole – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/”