A little Oscar baity - you just know Nicole Kidman purchased the rights to the play because she knew it would get her an Oscar nomination - but it is undeniably moving. Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play two grieving parents who lost their son to an auto accident eight months before the film opens. The two deal with their grief in different ways, and it's beginning to tear their relationship apart. Dianne Wiest plays Kidman's less sophisticated mother (she seems to be more from a blue collar background, which Kidman seems to have left behind), who also lost her son, albeit to heroin addiction when he was 30 (Kidman despises when her mother compares the two losses). Tammy Blanchard plays Kidman's younger sister, who tells her near the open of the film that she is pregnant. Sandra Oh plays another grieving parent, with whom Eckhart connects. The last major role belongs to Miles Teller, who plays the teen who hit the couple's son. Kidman surprisingly connects with the boy (at first I thought that he just reminded her of her dead son, which I believe was an intentional mislead). All the actors are excellent. Yeah, Kidman may have bought it because she knew it would get her a nomination, and I would guess nine actresses out of ten could have garnered a nomination from the role (it's just too well written not to attract Academy attention), but that doesn't take too much away from her achievement. Wiest would be an obvious second nomination (most certainly deserved), but the Academy should not overlook Eckhart, who gives his best performance to date. I have said nothing of John Cameron Mitchell, whose previous two films, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus, are among my favorite of the previous decade. He doesn't show his hand here at all. Indeed, it's definitely a director-for-hire type of job. But he is very subtle, so there's at least that.
Review of Rabbit Hole
