The highlights of "Rabbit Hole" are the truly superb performances from Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as Becca and Howie, a young couple struggling to put the pieces of their lives and their marriage back together after the death of their young son in a car accident. Both Kidman and Echkhart, I thought, nailed the parts perfectly, bringing the viewer into the emotional angst that must surely be felt after experiencing such a tragedy. Beginning with a scene in a group therapy session which is both funny and sad (one couple who have been attending "group" for eight years and seem to have no intention of stopping and another who fall into the hideous line - and I say this as a pastor - that "God needed another angel" - to which Becca replies in disgust but quite logically "so why didn't he just make one - after all, he is God") the movie moves through the steps that each seem to need in order to find a way to move on with life. Howie begins a friendship with a woman from the "group" that seems to lead him finally to the realization that he needs to save his marriage, while Becca strikes up a bizarre friendship with the teenage driver of the car that struck and killed her son (Jason, played by Miles Teller.) The movie's title is taken from a comic book that Jason is writing called "Rabbit Hole" which deals with the idea of parallel universes, and which seems to comfort Becca by convincing her that somewhere there's a place where she's living a happy life, presumably with her son still alive.
This is a heavy movie. It's sad and draining, but it's not a downer. You find yourself rooting for all these people to make it through the devastating grief that's come upon them. It's somewhat similar to 1980's "Ordinary People" (the idea of a family falling apart after a son's death) but it's less intense than that movie and ends on a somewhat more hopeful note than that movie. What really makes this movie work, though, are the performances from Kidman and Eckhart, who each manage to portray the numbness their characters are still feeling eight months after their son's death and who lead us convincingly through a series of emotional ups and downs. The length of the movie (91 minutes) struck me as just right - nothing more really needed to be covered for this to make its point. The ending of the movie is hopeful and optimistic but also a little ambiguous - which I appreciated. You clearly get the point that Becca and Howie have decided to try to move on (and to move on together) but there's lingering uncertainty whether they'll be able to make this work.
This is a heavy movie. It's sad and draining, but it's not a downer. You find yourself rooting for all these people to make it through the devastating grief that's come upon them. It's somewhat similar to 1980's "Ordinary People" (the idea of a family falling apart after a son's death) but it's less intense than that movie and ends on a somewhat more hopeful note than that movie. What really makes this movie work, though, are the performances from Kidman and Eckhart, who each manage to portray the numbness their characters are still feeling eight months after their son's death and who lead us convincingly through a series of emotional ups and downs. The length of the movie (91 minutes) struck me as just right - nothing more really needed to be covered for this to make its point. The ending of the movie is hopeful and optimistic but also a little ambiguous - which I appreciated. You clearly get the point that Becca and Howie have decided to try to move on (and to move on together) but there's lingering uncertainty whether they'll be able to make this work.