Movies: A Walk on the Moon vs Unfaithful | Main | New Tichu players
April 03, 2003
Movies: Life as a House
I rented this a few weeks ago but enjoyed it enough to write it up here
now, particularly as I don't remember seeing any trailers for it in 2001, when it was made.
'Life as a House' stars Kevin Kline as an architectural modeler (he builds models for architects to use to show off what a building would look like) who is already divorced, estranged from his son, and living in a house that he hates and now he has what should be the worst day of his life. He loses his job, goes on a rampage there as he leaves, and discovers he has terminal cancer with only a short while to live. However, what should be his worst day turns out to be his best as he determines to do what he can to use his last few months as well as he can.
He decides to build a house which he designed many years ago but has never managed to build and to try to fix his relationship with his son and try to help him (who is a psychologicial mess due to his estrangement from pretty much everyone) in the process. The movie is extremely well-done and three outstanding performances stand out in it: Kevin Kline as the main character, Kristen Scott Thomas as his ex-wife who has now married a wealthy man but whose new family is cold as ice and dysfunctional, and Jena Malone in a wonderful performance as a teenage girl (which she was) who is amazingly precocious and outspoken. Malone's character is the daughter of a single woman who was Kline's ex-lover and is interested (but in an interesting way) in Kline's son.
This movie is for the most part very predictable after the initial introductory scenes but the writing and acting are so good that one doesn't care. The house they build on a bluff overlooking the Pacific is also beautiful and serves as a wonderful setting. Again, the characters are real and believable. The transformation of Kline's son, played by Hayden Christiansen, is extreme but the crucible he is put through is quite poweful. Highly recommended. ****1/2
Posted by aarondf at April 3, 2003 11:46 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)