In The Bedroom
An Academy Award nomination (particularly Best Picture) can be one of the most effective marketing tools for an independent or foreign film. Without said nomination, the general public may never know about some of these undiscovered gems. Some of the recent examples include Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Life Is Beautiful, The Full Monty, and In The Bedroom. If the latter hadn't been nominated for Best Picture, I wouldn't have bothered checking it out, and thus, I would have missed a trio of great performances by Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei.
Matt (Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Spacek) don't exactly approve of their son Frank dating a single mother, Natalie (Tomei). Natalie's jealous not-quite-ex-husband Rick doesn't approve of her dating some college-age punk. However, Frank and Natalie love each other, and in a perfect world, that'd be peachy-keen. In reality, their love brings about a tragedy. One day, Rick's anger goes too far, and the Fowlers find their nest prematurely and permanently empty.
Matt and Ruth deal with their grief differently. Matt tries to pretend that nothing is wrong, while Ruth fills her heart with bitterness. The legal system isn't helping their heartache; the case against Rick isn't as strong as the Fowlers expect it to be. How can Matt and Ruth Fowler get on with their lives when their son's killer is still on the streets?
Director Todd Field maximizes tension with minimal action. He effectively combines themes from John Schlesinger's Eye For an Eye (parents' quest for justice) and Robert Redford's Best Picture winner Ordinary People (parents dealing with grief over a dead child). Field's accomplishments with Bedroom are especially impressive because his previous directing efforts have not yielded anything noteworthy. One suggestion I would give to the screenwriter is to add more comic relief. Regarding the soundtrack, it's subtle enough not to distract from the dialogue, but it adds to the mood of the film.
Spacek, Wilkinson, and Tomei deserve their Oscar nominations for Bedroom; the general acting is top-notch. The viewers feel true sympathy for Matt and Ruth, even if they haven't experienced this kind of loss. Tomei is well cast as a young mother who feels horrible because her testimony weakened the case against Rick. Nick Stahl (Frank) has developed as an actor since his annoying debut in The Man Without a Face.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are seldom wrong in their nominations. However, their winners are another story. In The Bedroom is dark and disturbing (three hours later, and I'm still bummed out), but it's a great independent film filled with honest emotion. Beware, it'll kill a cheerful mood with no resistance.
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The film's somber tone is an effective depressant, so any alcohol would just be an overdose.
The tone also works as a romance-suppressor.
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