“I was torn between a few options for what to pick this last time. There were some familiar ones I hadn’t seen in a while I was considering. Ultimately, I chose In The Bedroom because part of the goal of blogging thru my movie wall is to give a second chance to movies that I’m not familiar with, that I may otherwise have never watched again. Some of these neglected DVDs deserve a second chance.
That was sort of the case with In The Bedroom. Back when I was first building my collection, there used to be more stores in my path were I could peruse used DVDs. I’d buy everything I could get my hands on for cheap. What drew me to In the Bedroom was the combination of Oscar nominations and Nick Stahl in the cast. He was a favorite I hadn’t seen in nearly enough, and the high acclaim for such a small film intrigued me. When I first saw it, I think my young fresh-in-college and sheltered mind wasn’t ready for some of the more adult themes and situations, and there wasn’t enough of Stahl. Watching it now, having changed some stances and opinions on life things and having new appreciation for more of the nuances in a film, I really liked it. True, if it were released today, it would probably get lost in the indie theaters and not get all those I-think-I-can nominations. Doesn’t lessen the emotional punch that it packs.
Stahl’s Frank lives in a small New England town with his parents, played by Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek. He’s dating a young single Mom, Marissa Tomei. Frank is a lil in over his head, and as much as his parents want to make him put a stop to his relationship, they try and be supportive as he figures things out. Then things take a turn south. Waaaaay south. Completely changing the film. I would go into it more, but the majority of the plot summaries for this film stop at that point, so I guess I’m not allowed to say what happens other than it’s tragic and it completely shakes up the town.
Wilkinson ends up being the one who anchors most of the film, and he’s fantastic. We already knew he was awesome though. This was the first of his two Oscar nods to date, and he certainly earns it. He displays this calm to the outside world when inside you know there’s a whole typhoon of emotions swirling around. Similar with Spacek. She’s reserved and appears frail until a few key moments where it all just explodes. She too earned a nod along with Tomei. The film also garnered Best Picture and Adapted screenplay nominations. It was one of those the-nomination-is-the-victory situations, but still well deserved.
Well know, I think I should do my best to maintain this strategy as I work my way down the wall. That was some of the initial intent, but often distractions or lack of attention span make me choose better known films. Hopefully I’ll rediscover some other overlooked gems”