film: Family problems?
J.O Rhee, The Peak

I actually rushed to the Tinseltown Cinema with high expectations for In The Bedroom. I had been able to catch the trailers and thought that the film seemed interestingly suspenseful. But I came out of the theatre thinking: "Is that it?"

The following is the film's basic premise: it takes place in an idyllic coastal town in Maine, where Dr. Matt Fowler (Tom Wilkinson, The Full Monty) and his music teacher-wife, Ruth (Sissy Spacek, Carrie) basically lead a picture-perfect marriage. They are civil, courteous and loving towards one another, and they give back to the community. Their only son, Frank (Nick Stahl) not only exemplifies their esteemed qualities, but has dreams of becoming an architect one day, dreams that the parents want to see come true.

However, Frank is involved in a relationship with a slightly older woman, Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei), a separated single mother with two sons. Dr. Fowler doesn't mind the relationship, but Ruth is uncomfortable with it, even though she projects the appearance that everything is fine. She is so uncomfortable that she tries to persuade her son to end the relationship every opportunity she has alone with him. Unfortunately, Natalie still has to deal with unfinished business with her violent soon-to-be ex-husband Richard (William Mapother). One of the defining moments in the film is the increasingly dangerous alteration between Frank and Richard, the consequence of it directs a stark, complete contrast and transformation to the rest of the film. Essentially, it's the question of how one responds to what transpires at the moment, and how the cracks of civility begin to show when a tragedy has its impact.

One of the finer moments in the film is the quiet, intimate yet innocent scenes between Frank and Natalie. Another of my favorite is the scene where Dr. Fowler explains patiently to one of Natalie's boys on their boating trip about the lobsters, a simple prep talk that inevitably has a haunting meaning and importance towards the end of the film. The performances are understated, raw, yet phenomenal. I only wish that Marisa Tomei's character could have been given more scenes, just for the sake of character development. Of course, the obvious standouts (or show offs) were the heavily cathartic arguments between Wilkinson's and Spacek's characters. It's almost as if Spacek wanted to show us that she is a stellar actress.

Nevertheless, I had two issues with the movie. It felt painfully slow, because I kept looking at my Indiglo watch. The second issue I had was that it seemed underdeveloped. In spite of that, the film is a courageous directional debut for Todd Field.

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