Reservation Road Movie Reviews

Reservation Road It is a night to rejoice, it’s a night when the most unexpected is going to take place… It’s a night when two fathers are going to rue it for the rest of their lives!! The film opens on Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix), a professor with his wife Grace (Jennifer Connelly) and daughter Emma (Elle Fanning, Dakota Fanning’s sister) are enjoying their son Josh’s (Sean Curley) cello playing session. At the same time Dwight (Mark Ruffalo) a lawyer by profession and his son Lucas (Eddie Alderson) are enjoying a Red Sox baseball match in progress which has extended into extra time. Dwight’s ex wife Ruth (Mira Sorvino) calls to check on her son and is informed by Dwight about the extended time and he will get his son home shortly!! This scenario turns into a burning nightmare for one and an equally guilt ridden life for the other. The events are paced quite naturally here and you are suddenly faced with a HIT and RUN case of Ethan’s son being killed on the spot!!

This incident takes place on Reservation Road of this small town in America. Ethan is languishing in pain; Grace is in shock and little Emma is non plussed with the goings on and wants to know what happened to her brother and why isn’t he coming back!! Equally on the other side of the scene is Dwight; who is stunned at hitting someone and at the same time enquiring after his son in his car whether he is okay after the accident sends Lucas crashing on the dash board of the car. Dwight is in a hurry to reach Lou home so as not to further irritate his ex wife!! Look at this situation from the third eye!! It’s an absolute volte face!! What should have been a very happy family outing for all concerned, turns out to be the visit to the graveyard for one and for the other it turns out to be a guilt ridden life with questions he is either afraid to face because of the consequences or he just doesn’t want to confront because he is also a father to a son!! The dilemma of the lawyer, the drive of the professor to justify the death of his son are so languidly portrayed that you end up feeling for both. Ethan has also garnered support from the fellow mourners through Google et al and is convinced that the guilty should be punished!! Dwight is very surprised when Ethan’s determined crusade lands right into his lap!! That I thought was a little like a mother of all coincidences. Nevertheless, the way the film moves from here is just paced to increase and heighten your curiosity as to when these two are confronting each other. Director Terry George has got out the fine lines of a fathers worry to the fore.

One where the loss of a son is bereaved by a man who is a father and thinks that no amount of justice can be done for the loss that he is suffered. His emotions after a time become wooden to the extent that there is only grit determination written all over it that says, the guilty has to be punished!! So much for being in constant battle with the mind and self that Dwight had to be besotted by the heinous crime he had committed, albeit unconsciously!! The confrontation does take place. It has a very quiet, sinister air about the two men who prowl each other. One with guilt in his mind and trying to hide it and find a mean to calm the storm which is brewing!! The second with a determination of maybe finding the guilty party and slowly closing in for the kill!! This scene has all the elements of keeping you guessing, emotion quantified with very little background score and the two men actually looking like a predator and a prey!! This is George at his best.

The cast has been carefully selected. Joaquin is known for his emotion display and of course his eyes have a very darty (not shifty), intelligent and determined spirit in it that shows the core of the character that he plays. His body language is that of a berated father mourning his sons death and then he holds himself rigid when he senses that he is on the scent of the guilty prey. He is simply put excellent. Mark Ruffalo has an easy air about him. His expressions when enjoying with his son and his expression when in deep thought about the incident are worth watching. His particular scenes where he and his son Lou are chatting up go something like this; Lou: Dad, I got suspended for three days from school!! Dwight: Why?? How did that happen?? Lou: one of my friends snitched on the other friend in class. And the other friend had not done it!! Dad: why did you have to fight him?? Did I teach you that?? Huh…!! Lou: I wanted him to own up Daddy, own up to the fact that he lied!! That’s the statement that is the turning point here!! Rest of the cast is adequate as they perform as they are expected to. So if you really want to know what really happened when Dwight and Ethan confront each other, take an appointment with the DVD rental guy to meet you at RESERVATION ROAD! Reserve your seat now!

Me and Nidhi had a very interesting conversation on her recent review on SWEET NOVEMBER! I had promised her that I will review films that have more relationship issues, drama etc.. I dedicate this review to NIDHI1 as the first from a series that will come!!

This one is for you Nidhi.

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