Things We Lost in the Fire Reviews

Remove the interracial marriage and diversity of the cast and Things We Lost in the Fire wouldn’t have looked out of place as a women’s picture tearjerker from the studio era. It’s a full-blooded melodrama that alternates between forlorn, cloistered emotional spaces and facile, artificial operatic set pieces. Your mileage will vary, and even mine did, someone who is generally a fan of this kind of thing.

 

What’s so damn frustrating about Things We Lost in the Fire is how it wants to operate in both worlds, and ends up becoming some weird hybrid creature that’s generally good but more fascinating for its oddities and unintentional camp. I mean, this is a film about a widow and the junkie best friend forming a strange bond during their grief while deploying cringe lines and soapy moments that handicap the truth of any given situation. Here is a film where a cold turkey session ends with a kid handing someone a cookie.

 

None of this should work, not even remotely should it work, but Halle Berry and Benicio del Toro give the film more weight and intelligent performances then it probably deserves. Berry successfully proves that Monster’s Ball was no fluke, and her generally uneven performing style just needs a certain type of material to flourish. While del Toro has done this kind of material better, he still manages to make us feel empathy for his character and root for his success.

 

The film’s entire ethos boils down to “accept the good,” a New Age fortune cookie platitude that doesn’t mean much of anything in the end. Things We Lost in the Fire just wants to expunge your tears and work your empathetic impulses into a frenzied overdrive. This is basically a Lifetime movie with European arthouse garnishes, and sometimes that’s all you’re really in the mood for.  

Since I have a weak spot for Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, I was really eager to check this flick. The other thing that intrigued me was it was Susanne Bier’s first English language feature. All right, I have to admit it, it has been a while since Halle Berry has done anything really interesting (except for ‘Cloud Atlas’) and Del Toro who remains a really impressive actor doesn’t make much movies nowadays and he doesn’t pick up the best ones in my opinion. Eventually, like most of Bier’s work, it was a really strong drama, even if it was still rather flawed. Indeed, the story was really striking about this drug addict losing his only friend and this woman losing the love of her life and the way they stick together to cope with this situation. I’m a real fan of Susanne Bier’s directing and she did a pretty good job here once again, I really loved the focus she put on the characters. The acting was also pretty solid, above all Benicio Del Toro was, as usual, really impressive. Unfortunately, Susanne Bier made the same mistake she did with ‘Brothers’. Indeed, here, you have the same pattern about a character who seems to be lost forever but, miraculously, after some tragic events, he becomes someone great, almost perfect. And the fact that he later has a relapse felt also really plot-driven. Concerning Halle Berry, her character’s behavior was even more erratic, changing every 5 minutes, and just when Del Toro starts to loose it, very conveniently, she gets her sh*t back together in order to save the day. So, the whole thing feels rather contrived at times but there is no denying that the story, the characters and the actors were all compelling to watch. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is a pretty good drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

A widow (Berry) invites her husband's friend, Jerry (Del Toro) to live with her and her two kids. Her husband's best friend (Lynch) befriends Jerry.

I fail to see what was so great in this movie, certainly not the script !

As for the acting, only Benicio del Toro and John Carroll Lynch are worth mentioning. The others definitely delivered second rate performances, especially Halle Berry.
The directing was not extraordinary. It wasn't even ordinary. It was just plain lame.
The photography was pretty awful, the characters were lost with the background, mostly in the scenes shot outside.

I was told by friends the movie was fun, and went by quickly. I don't think I've ever seen such a slow film! and time sure didn't go by fast enough.
It was so slow I started watching it at x1.5 speed with subtitles, and it still didn't pick up. This morning I finally gave it another chance by resuming it, and frankly, I fail to see the point of the movie.

Unless you have a good reason to watch this boring drama, I'd stay away from it.

Just finished watching this, and man, was I impressed with it. A really good movie, from start to finish, it is one of the rare ones that I have watched recently that has kept me in my seat, watching from start to finish, with no breaks. Really well acted, and written, with a good cast, and a strong and emotional story. I will definitely be watching this one again.