In the Bedroom - R\nStarring: Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl\nDirected by: Todd Field\nShowing: Showplace East 11\n"In the Bedroom" is a truly haunting tale that sincerely and genuinely eats at the emotions. There are no contrivances here. Nothing is forced as things are played out subtly and gradually. We experience the life of a perfectly happy family in the wonderfully light town of Camden, New England. But lurking under the surface is a tragedy waiting to erupt. And when this shocking yet very believable disaster occurs, what unfolds before us is the absorbing, involving deterioration of this once wonderful family in this once wonderful town.\nAmong this innocent town's residents is a married couple named Matt and Ruth Fowler (Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek). Matt is a reputable physician and Ruth is a high school chorus music teacher who is more than satisfied with her job. The Fowlers have an only child named Frank (Nick Stahl), a college graduate student with a lot of potential to succeed like his prototypical parents. But Frank, falling in love with an older woman named Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei), forgets his priorities and sticks around to maintain the relationship with her.\nBut the real complication is that Natalie's ex-husband Richard (William Mapother) is still in love with her, and his violent behavior is something we fear will bring inevitable tragedy to the wonderful town of Camden. And when the inescapable strikes, what unfolds are the deep-rooted flaws that a perfect married couple never had trouble denying to the world and to each other before, but now find difficult to ignore. Deep-seeded evil also reveals itself in a once-flawless and innocent town. From a very shocking but expected tragedy unravels a turmoil that eats at our protagonists in a way we simply can't ignore.\nThe writing in this film is something we mustn't overlook. The subtle style of story-telling is something we can all truly enjoy in an otherwise blatant and cliche Hollywood narrative-filled year of movies. The characters in this drama are only slowly introduced to us, but have so much substance, the loss is truly irritating to the senses. The acting in this film is eye-popping and has already garnered several deserved awards. Expect to see both Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson somewhere on that list of this year's Oscar nominees. \nThis film is actually very similar to "Ordinary People" (which won the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year in 1980). Genuinely involving and absorbing, "In the Bedroom" is one of the most memorable and haunting movies of the year and is giving other Oscar contenders a run for their money. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised to discover that I wasn't the only one in a fairly filled theater to shed a large tear watching this powerfully shaking tale.\n
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