Reviews

Things We Lost In the Fire

Haunting agony and angst

By TOM MEEK | October 17, 2007

2.5 Stars

Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro

Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) has just lost husband Brian (David Duchovny), and sheâ€™s struggling to get their bi-racial children to cope. The arrival of Brianâ€™s best friend, Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), complicates her despair: a recovering heroin addict whom Audrey has long disapproved of, he shows up for the funeral and sticks around. Themes of healing and moving on take hold, but thatâ€™s not readily evident as much of the plodding story unfolds in flashbacks, circling around to just before the beginning, when Brian intervenes in a domestic dispute and catches a bullet for his trouble. Cold-turkey scene and all, itâ€™s Del Toroâ€™s movie, but Berry and Duchovny offer strong support. The languid, affected strokes with which Danish director Susanne Bier underscores the charactersâ€™ angst and agony are haunting and purposeful â€” too bad the bigger melodrama doesnâ€™t equal its piquant parts.

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