tiff 2010: Rabbit Hole

I was looking forward to watching Rabbit Hole thinking it was going to be an intense drama. Plus it stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, and it’s a screen adaption of the award winning play. The film is directed by John Cameron Mitchel and deals with a husband and wife who struggle with their marriage after the death of their son.

The Elgin Theater was packed and everyone seemed really interested in watching the film. My interest slowly faded away. I felt bored at times and wondered when it was going to get into the meaty stuff. Time passed by and nothing. The story was moving soooooo slow. Then all I kept thinking about was the time and when the film would end. A lot and I mean a lot of the scenes involved the characters doing something such as moving a box, taking pictures down, driving or looking out the window with gloomy music in the background. I’m guessing the point was to get more meaning and emotions across to the viewers. For me it felt like the film was being stretched to meet the average length of a film.

Even with the limited dialogue that led nowhere, both of the main actors and some of the other supporting cast did a great job. There were several scenes between Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart that were intense and truly showcased their acting skills. Those scenes really helped the film and showed signs that it had strong potential to go somewhere. The scenes with Dianne Wiest, who played Nicole Kidman’s mother, were a true value to the film. She provided some laughs throughout the film in addition to the mother-daughter moments, making the movie watchable.

I would not recommend people to see Rabbit Hole, unless there is nothing else for you to do or nothing on tv. If you like slow storylines, unsatisfying endings, and films forcing you to analyze the actors’ actions or facial expressions to find deep meaning then this film is for you. Otherwise, skip it. I have seen a number of online media highlighting the standing ovation at the end of the film. The ruling is still out there if it was because the movie was actually good or because the film was finally over or just because the cast and directors were there. I’ll say it’s a combination of the latter two.

It was a let down that there was no Q&A period after the film. I was all ready to take pics this time. The pictures I did manage to take turned out bad since they were my test shots. I would also like to mention that I was starving while watching this movie. Thats  So all in all it was not a good experience.