In spite of a mixed reception, it has already grossed P50 million. The DVD will not be released until April 2006, in time for Easter holidays’ home viewing. It is one of those films dumped by Miramax from the old Weinstein stable.
If you want to see a grizzly bear, look instead for “Grizzly Man” by Werner Herzog. In “An Unfinished Life” the creature is part real, acted by Bart The Bear, and partly digitalised. At least he gets his freedom in the end.
Fans of Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman, both 69 this year, will turn out for this film. It also stars Jennifer Lopez, and some like her no matter what, though her acting is shallow and bland. Besides Bart the Bear, this movie belongs to an eleven-year-old girl, Griff Gilkyson (Becca Gardner). The story is very simplistic. Griff’s mother Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez) a dozen years ago was driving in Canada late at night, was tired and rolled the car six times. Her husband Griffin died. She left the Rockies for the mid-west and raised Griff without ever telling her she had a grandfather, Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford) in Wyoming.
So far Jean’s life has not come together. She takes menial jobs and has relationships with mediocre men who abuse her. The film is partly about domestic violence, but only to allow for such insights as, “You stay because you don’t think you deserve anything better”. When her latest boyfriend, Gary (Damian Lewis), starts hammering her again she seeks sanctuary in the local women’s shelter. They explain to her that she should leave the state, as she is not safe at the local shelter. On the road, Jean and Griff throw a rod and abandon their car. They are near enough to Einar’s farm in the mountains that they head there for a temporary haven.
At the farm they find a strange pair co-existing in mutual pain, because a grizzly had mauled Mitch Bradley (Morgan Freeman) a year before. Mitch is a well of homespun philosophy and has a desire to look on the brighter side of things, while Einar is still mired in misery, his wife gone, and his farm down to one milk cow and a bevy of cats he cannot even bother to name.
Reluctantly he takes in Jean and Griff. He suddenly finds he has a “son” again in Griff and his bones and phlegm begin to mellow, assisted by Mitch’s sage advice, like, “The dead forgive us our sins”. The rest is there for the watching, including Einar talking to Griffin at his grave on the farm.
Freeman again plays the loyal sidekick who has worked all his life for the white boss. He even got recognised for it in “Million Dollar Baby” (2004). He won “Best Supporting Actor” (he was nominated four times before for Oscars) for playing Eddie Dupris, or “Scrap”, an ex-boxer who’d lost an eye and now keeps the gym clean. Do we need it all again? This time it is Redford who nurses Freeman’s wounds, inflicted by the bear, and injects his drugs. Look for the point Griff says to them, “I had a music teacher who was a lesbian. You guys are gay, aren’t you?”
Lookout, it has been labelled “A sentimental bore”, but it is actually better that that. It is cliché-dominated with lots of trivialities and though intense, most of what happens you know will before you see it, as it is very predictable. Will the family get back together? What odds would you take on that? It certainly is not enough to sustain a slow-moving film.
In essence, the problem is a poor script that needed more work. Still, there is probably not an actor alive today who could spout some of the lines any better than Freeman and Redford do. It was filmed in the mountains of Canada, an excellent substitute for Wyoming.
In 2008, look for a film where Freeman owns the ranch and Eastwood and Redford work for him as a manager and well driller. Could even be set in Botswana somewhere near Gweta!
“An Unfinished Life” is one hour and 47 minutes long. It is rated 13+ because of violence and language. The director is Lasse Hallstrom who got more raves for his “The Cider House Rules” (1999) and “Chocolat” (2000). It is based on a script by Mark Spragg and Virginia Korus Spragg, from a novel by Mark Spragg. The cinematographer, who loves his close ups of Redford’s craggy face, is Oliver Stapleton. The editor is Andrew Mondshein. The pseudo-western music is by Deborah Lurie.
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