![]() Remember him in " Donnie Darko," " The Good Girl" and "Lovely & Amazing." Here, too, he is a young man with troubled thoughts. Gyllenhaal, who in person is a jokester, in the movies almost always plays characters who are withdrawn and morose. ![]() JoJo, protected by intelligence and wit, looks closely and suspects a secret Joe is keeping, which leaves him stranded between the past and future. ![]() Ben, who has lost a daughter, now in a confused way hopes to gain a son, and encourages Joe to join him in his business as a real estate developer. Joe stays stuck in the Floss house, living in an upstairs bedroom, his plans on hold. They talk not in a sentimental way, but in that strange, detached tone we use when grief is too painful to express and yet something must be said.Īfter the funeral and the home visitation, the film follows what in a lesser film would be called the "healing process." "Moonlight Mile" is too quirky and observant to be described in psychobabble. We meet Joe Nast ( Jake Gyllenhaal), the fiance of the dead girl, and her parents Ben and JoJo Floss ( Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon). At first only quiet clues in the dialogue allow us to understand that someone has died. Its not particularly fast paced and it doesn't contain much action or special effects but for what it is, its certainly a decent enough film."Moonlight Mile," which takes place in 1973, opens in an elliptical way. The main character of Joe I felt was particularly well portrayed and it was interesting to see him interact with what would have been his mother and father in law. This is a good character driven drama with some touching dialogue and a good cast. The only other thing I should probably point out is the fact that its quite a subtle film, in terms of the messages (or themes) the film covers and the fact its very 'dialogue heavy' and thus its probably not for you if your easily distracted. Really in a film like this, it all boils down to the characters - how believable they are and how well their portrayed on screen and as far as this is concerned, it scores well. I felt that the film seemed a bit lacking in direction by one point but then the plot pace increased when the court case was suddenly brought back. There are some nice camera shots, with outside scenes having an autumnal look/feel to them. The scenes between Joe and Bertie are also quite good, as they challenge each other somewhat and provide an insight in to the past. The scenes between Joe and his late fiancee parents, but particularly the father, Ben, are especially poignant - both of them struggle to show emotion and come to terms with their predicament but the more they spend time together, the more similarities I suppose we realise they have. ![]() I found myself rooting for him and hoping that the wounds that had been caused by the tragedy, could somehow be healed or that if not, at least by the end of the film that Joe would have a clearer idea of what he wants in the future, of where he's heading and so on. Some of the dialogue is quite poignant and there are some very emotional scenes. ![]() He is quite an introvert but we see through different scenes, the impact the tragedy has had on not only him but those he lives with, his parents and so on. I thought the script was good, as I felt the characters he interacted with all brought out different elements of him and helped me as the viewer to get a better idea of where he was coming from, of his background and so on. The story is obviously quite sad and the main character, Joe, is quite a raw character - an adolescent who is clearly quite confused, lost and probably someone other adolescents can relate to, being faced with a very difficult, bleak situation at such a young age. This is very much a character driven film and its very dialogue heavy, with a strong use of music to back up the emotional tone of each scene. This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. ![]()
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