RABBIT HOLE (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Tammy Blanchard, Miles Teller, Sandra Oh
RunTime: 1 hr 31 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: NC-16 (Some Drug Use)
Official Website: http://www.rabbitholefilm.com/index.html

Opening Day: 17 February 2011

Synopsis: RABBIT HOLE is a vivid, hopeful, honest and unexpectedly witty portrait of a family searching for what remains possible in the most impossible of all situations. Becca and Howie Corbett (NICOLE KIDMAN and AARON ECKHART) are returning to their everyday existence in the wake of a shocking, sudden loss. Just eight months ago, they were a happy suburban family with everything they wanted. Now, they are caught in a maze of memory, longing, guilt, recrimination, sarcasm and tightly controlled rage from which they cannot escape. As Becca finds pain in the familiar, Howie finds comfort. The shifts come in abrupt, unforeseen moments. Becca hesitantly opens up to her opinionated, loving mother (DIANNE WIEST) and secretly reaches out to the teenager involved in the accident that changed everything (MILES TELLER); meanwhile Howie lashes out and imagines solace with another woman (SANDRA OH). Yet, as off track as they are, the couple keeps trying to find their way back to a life that still holds the potential for beauty, laughter and happiness. The resulting journey is an intimate glimpse into two people learning to re-engage with each other and a world that has been tilted off its axis.

Movie Review:

How do we deal with grief? We wish we could tell you the answer. We must all must have experienced this painful emotion at some point in our lives, and what made us eventually move on? It’s probably something which words cannot describe - which is why a seemingly unexciting film like this speaks to us in volumes. While nothing thrilling happens during this drama’s 91 minute runtime, it is a tale so chockfull of human sentiments, it left us contemplating about what life has in store for each and single one of us. 

Adapted from a 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name by David Lindsay Abaire, the John Cameron Mitchell directed film version tells the story of a couple who struggles to heal after the unexpected death of their young son. The lives of the happily married husband and wife are turned upside down after the destruction of their perfect world. The husband refuses to let go of the past, and seeks solace in outsiders who offer things which his wife isn’t able to provide. The wife, on the other hand, tries to find peace in redefining what it means to be alive. She finds comfort in a teenager who happens to be the driver of the car which killed her son.

The complex web of relationships culminate in a finale so quietly devastating, it reminds us of how bleak our existence can be in the big scheme of things.

Produced under leading lady Nicole Kidman’s company Blossom Films, this film is clearly a project of passion handpicked by the Oscar winner, as it treads on the truthful and real human emotions which all humans go through. She plays the distressed housewife who fights to retain peace in her mind. The character is at times abrasive, at times hilarious, at times distraught and at times broken, and Kidman manages to portray these with ease. More importantly, she has the audience empathising with what the character is going through, which is probably why she has been nominate for Best Actress at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Playing Kidman’s husband in this commendably minimalist production is the underrated Aaron Eckhart. The actor is at his finest here, portraying a man who feels empty after his wife takes on a different approach to handle grief. His desperation to find consolation results in a flirtation with another woman. This is depicted on screen with minimum romanticism, which makes the fragility of human relationships even more desolate.

Joining Kidman and Eckhart is an ensemble of fine actors like Dianne Wiest as a mother who is dealing with a different kind of heartache, Sandra Oh as a fellow griever and Miles Teller as an unassuming teenager who gives a new perspective on life to the couple.

This new viewpoint of parallel universes is almost surreal and engulfs you in an unimaginable way. If you are willing to give this slowly plotted film a chance by appreciating the story it has to tell, you’ll be rewarded with an opportunity to reflect upon the grievances which have left you in sorrow. And as the film wraps up and ends with a poignantly fantastic sequence, you feel like you are thrown in the open wilderness, pondering to yourself: What happens next? 

Movie Rating:



(A poignant display of human emotions which require effort to appreciate)

Review by John Li