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Things We Lost in the Fire

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Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)

September. 26,2007
|
7.1
|
R
| Drama
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A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

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Reviews

Odelecol
2007/09/26

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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Kailansorac
2007/09/27

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

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Kamila Bell
2007/09/28

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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Fleur
2007/09/29

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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drjgardner
2007/09/30

This film has wonderful acting from everyone involved, especially the two young kids and Benicio del Toro. The script is excellent, with enough twists and turns to keep you on your feet. The music and photography only add to the merits of this well-crafted film. The only fault I can find in this film is the direction that moves too slowly for my tastes. The director Susanne Bier isn't known for her action films and I enjoyed her pacing in "The Night Manager", but here it is a little too slow.

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eric262003
2007/10/01

I had high expectations when I saw "Things We Lost in the Fire", Partially because I am a huge fan of Halle Berry and the story structure looked at the most quite intriguing. Sad to say, it failed to give us a rich, deeply emotional story and that's where I deduct several points. Editing, production and a better script could have made this movie ten times more better than what was given to us.The story is set in the present times with well-timed flashbacks in the background to keep the story in tact. Halle Barry plays the role of Audrey Burke, a single woman with two daughters. Her husband Brian (David Duchovny) was tragically killed. From the flashbacks we are informed that Brian's friend from childhood Jerry (excellently portrayed by Benicio Del Toro) were still close even in adulthood only Jerry is now a heroin addict and that Brian has helped him throughout his ordeal by paying him a visit regularly and to provide groceries to him, much to the annoyance of Audrey who felt concerned about Brian visiting Jerry because of the bad side of town in which Jerry lives.In the complexity of Audrey's stems from two possibilities. It could be whether she wants to hang on to her husband's memory or just a simple need for attention, Audrey takes Jerry under her wing to help him overcome his addiction as she invites him under her roof and lets him sleep in her garage which is like a studio apartment in which she repetitively reminds us of "stuff that was lost in the fire" and Brian kept on constantly reminding her "we didn't lose each other and that's the most important" that's how the title came about.Audrey's multi-layered personification is to say the least comes across as at times unusual and at times self-centred as she makes unorthodox demands for Jerry like making him rub her ear lobes so that she can go to sleep at night. The scene itself makes me want to cringe in anger, I mean it was okay that she invited Jerry and be a part of her family, but also refuses Jerry to come anywhere close to her children. I guess this just adds to the complexity of her character. Sure it's nice that she wants to fill in her husband's void to get this dude on the straight and narrow, but for him to resort to force him into rubbing her ears is just overdone and lacks any believable traits to the story.On the whole the performances were quite impressive, but the dialogue feels contrived to the extent that we get the feeling that director Susanne Bier's been watching several episodes of Dr. Phil with the continual saying rubbed in our faces that we must "take things one day at a time". The whole psychology of the film makes the subject matter saccharine and superficial. To me this whole predicament makes me very uncomfortable and insults my intelligence for that matter. The kids are offered stereotypical ridiculous lines like the one daughter who screamed at Jerry accusing him for "taking over her father's place." Sure broken families are everywhere, but I don't think children really talk this way. If I talked that way to my dad I would have been grounded. It's only just people assuming how kids would react in those kind of situations. The reaction I got shocked me and angered me at the same time.If you thought the script was appalling, the direction does not fare any better. Miss Bier assumes that in-your-face close-ups of one's eyes springs emotions and artistic merits or any kind of importance. I was wondering, why the eyeball close-ups? Does she have some kind of strange eye fetish or something? There was nothing significant to it at all. It didn't make the movie any more better. It just wandered off like a lost sheep. The only good thing about the direction is that Miss Bier did was that she let her performers utilize their acting chops even though the material given to them was scarce and not very satisfying. In addition the flashbacks were handled with care and set them at the right time and it was quite informative and compelling.Although I ranted more than I raved I still give this movie a six out of ten. The acting was sublime, the subject of the matter holds one's interest, and Halle Berry turns in a brilliant performance even through her complex nature. Sadly the editing, the script and the directing brought the film down which had a lot of potential going for it. I still recommend those who want to see it, and I hope that if you see it you won't be upset with all the faults that come with it.

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TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
2007/10/02

This is the first Bier film I watch. She's one of our popular directors, and this was her first attempt outside of Denmark. In Hollywood, no less. Maybe that's where it went wrong, and I understand that she has done better before this. I haven't given up on her abilities. Maybe her style of close-ups(including extreme ones on eyeballs), smash-cuts and hand-held camera(I will admit that it puts you right in the situation a lot of the time) works better elsewhere. The script may have been the main problem. It's unoriginal, cliché-ridden, predictable and simply not convincing. None of these people are real. They're one-note and forgettable. The pacing is slow. You can be heavy without being boring. It's also odd how little time it spends on the drugs issue... almost as if it wasn't willing to truly delve into something so uncomfortable. This isn't a complete waste. I liked the beginning. You see the awkward family situation as they try to deal with it. And the way Jerry becomes a surrogate for Brian, the way he uses cigarettes in place of the heroin he was addicted to... that wasn't bad. The non-linear time-line of the first hour is fine. This deals with loss, and it does so nicely enough, if it has little new to offer. Duchovny is his bland self as the angelic husband shot down by a wife-beater(the individual, not the tank top) never-again-to-be-mentioned, leaving his wife Berry(who does well enough, not her best work) and their two kids(who look too similar to one another... then again, they seem like they could be Halle's kids... they're OK actors), and thus Del Toro(who is *magnificent*, he raised my rating of this by one point), Mulder's best friend for years, becomes a bigger part of their lives, to help patch the hole it leaves. This could have been touching. It didn't have to be sappy, borderline emotional porn. When your moral is essentially a bumper sticker... "accept the good"... well, that's a bit of an omen. This has a little humor. There is a moderate amount of strong language and some disturbing content in this. The DVD comes with 9 and a half minutes of deleted scenes(complete but with time-codes), trailers for this and three other movies, and the 20 and a half minute featurette A Conversation About Things We Lost in the Fire, which I will review on its own page here on the site. I recommend this to those who want their heartstrings tugged and have low standards for such. 6/10

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brumblebrumble1
2007/10/03

If you're going with that feeling "this is going to be an awesome motion picture", I highly recommend you slow down your expectations. On the other hand don't think it's going to be junk, it won't. Don't expect to be extraordinary ... and don't expect it to be trash. If you have something more interesting to do with your time forget about this movie and watch it when you're bored and got nothing to do. That way this movie will be worthy.The story line is somehow boring and non-existent, when it ends feels like you're in the middle expecting more development. Nothing really special with the characters or the story happens from 25 mins-end. On the other hand, the acting and the message is good. This is mainly a "human" movie. Walks around "human" things. The issue of loosing somebody important in our lives, the issue of people hitting the bottom of their lives, the issue of we giving another shot to others, among other things.This isn't great because it just doesn't keep you wishing for the next scene like "and now?? What happens??" like great movies do, so if you are the type of person who usually loves development and a good story, forget about this. On the other hand, if you are interested in human relations, this will be good. Under that aspect, it's very realistic and the acting won't disappoint.So best way to qualify this? Average, somehow enjoyable, but definitely average movie, good to kill some time in a boring Sunday afternoon.

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