Grace Is Gone (2007)

Grace Is Gone

Item arrived in great condition. I wasn't as impressed with the movie as I thought I would be; too much hype and it didn't deliver. August 8, 2008

This movie touched me as a father

The Iraq War isn't a central theme to this film. I expected a storyline along the same lines of "In the Valley of Elah." This isn't the case. "Grace" might have past from a car crash or some other tragedy. This movie is about a husband's grief and loss.

Fans of John Cusack will appreciate his work here. The relationship between Cusack's character and his two daughters is honest, painful, yet riveting.

Be ready to dry your eyes. August 6, 2008

Quietly, Beautifully Effective

This story is done well as it is a very "normal" family trying to deal with the issues of a loved one away in Iraq and family members who support or do not support the war effort. The father (Cusak) wants to cling to the normalcy and the innocence of a life slipping away from him. The kids are not know-it-all brats telling the dad what to do, but are either confused, happy, sad, smart at different times, which is a realistic protrayal of many kids. We get to learn who these kids are and really, who the father (John Cusak) is before the kids are dealt the devastating blow that...Grace is gone. July 29, 2008

"Over There" is definitely felt "Over Here"

Looking for a good tear-jerker? You could hardly find one better than GRACE IS GONE. Topical. Family oriented. It is something of a surprising role for John Cusack who started his career with low-brow comedies (Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer). But this independent gem shows that Cusack has the wherewithal to spot a solid, dramatic part and run with it. Although Cusack has done some off-and-on stand-up work, things like The Ice Harvest and Pushing Tin were a bit thin on character. But not so here.

And, even more surprising, the film brings two unknowns to play alongside Cusack. The two are also very young girls who show that Dakota Fanning (Charlotte's Web) isn't the only young gal who can act her heart out. Shélan O'Keefe stars as Heidi Phillips, Stanley Phillips' (Cusack's) eldest daughter and does so with astonishing ...um ...grace. Trying to find her way into adolescence while watching her father implode is quite nicely portrayed. Her first attempts at smoking and her nighttime wanderings are something many parents will be able to identify with.

Stanley's younger daughter Dawn is played by newcomer Gracie Bednarczyk, and her portions where she's jousting with her older sister are spot on. Not understanding what's happening to their family is significant in that someone of her age truly wouldn't know. But the suspicions of her elder sister set her on edge ...just a tad.

Grace is Gone is a very good war film. And by war I mean a film that focuses on its impact on the home-front. When Stanley (Cusack) learns of his wife's death in Iraq, it takes some mental juggling for him to come to terms with what that means for him and his two young daughters. This is the crux of the story. When Stanley can't release the information to his kids, he hides it by taking them to a fun theme park many miles away. It seems he wants his kids to have fun before breaking the worst news of their lives to them ...and, in a sense, re-breaking it to himself. Stanley loses sight of what he needs to do, and even becomes a bit delusional (he calls his own home to tell his dead-wife that he and the kids are okay, etc.).

The gut-wrenching scene when Stanley MUST tell the kids what happened to their mother is one of the hardest things any parent will ever have to watch. The musical score comes up over the voice of Stanley and we don't get to hear everything he says, which we don't need to; we can see it on the childrens' faces. A truly powerful moment that will linger with you for many days, if not weeks.

It is noteworthy to mention how topical this film is since the war in Iraq seems far from over. Men and women continue to die "over there" and when that might end is anyone's guess. But one thing is for certain, the traumas felt "over there" definitely ripple "over to here". And that's something that this film shows us exceptionally well. July 6, 2008

Heart rending & intelligent

It's sad that so many good films about the stupidity of Bush II's Iraq War has not succeeded at the box office, and in a way, this applies to "Grace is Gone" -- though this film is about the human beings that war affects -- and it is a VERY affecting film. Cusak continues to impress me as an actor, and the two young actresses who played his daughters are fine performers. Watch this one. Beautifully done. June 15, 2008

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