This has been sitting on the Sky+ box for quite a while now, and I can’t count the number of times I almost bought this movie on DVD over the past 2 or 3 years but couldn’t bring myself to do it. I probably haven’t actually seen the movie in almost 10 years, and at the time it was among my first all-time faves, made me bawl like a baby everytime I watched it, which was probably weekly if not daily. I’ve been putting off watching it so much ‘cos I didn’t want to suddenly find that it’s a really bad movie or something.

There are one or two seriously cheesy moments – when Michael Keaton bursts in on his doctor’s surgery early on, for example, to inform him in über-macho manner that he has no right to take away his hope (followed by an even cheesier exit as he grabs Nicole Kidman by the hand and leads her away, lol); the “Chariots of Fire” rollercoaster ride rolls eyes; and the rollercoaster reprise, Keaton’s ascent to the white light – but this is a movie like Stealing Home to me … even with all its flaws, I will always have a huge place in my heart for it, and it’s down to the moments and the music, that beautiful theme by John Barry that sets me crying before the opening credits have even finished, before they’ve begun even, so engrained in my memory is it, that let me lose myself completely and drown in tears.

One or two things I’d forgotten between the last viewing and this one: I love how we’re plunged into the thick of the situation. From her first moment on screen, Nicole Kidman already looks exhausted … she’s all cried out and has clearly got over the shock that her husband is dying long before we see her. We skip the whole emotional scene of diagnosis one would think would obviously be included in a movie like this (it kinda does come later on, but it’s the thought that counts, and I’m glad to be spared half an hour “getting to know the characters”). And SPOILER I’d forgotten that he actually gets to see his son born. I don’t know why that had slipped my mind. I’d almost forgotten the last quarter of the movie entirely, in fact, forgot how it switches focus from the main “leave something behind for my child,” storyline to the quite shockingly raw and real decline of Keaton’s health.

Tuesdays With Morrie no doubt did it all a little better and My Life Without Me went further still with a particularly similar storyline (I’d never made the connection before now) – but this one is so full of naïvety, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and goes into spiritual territory (if a little ridiculous at times) ... heck, it’s worth it for Barry’s score alone. One to keep around for a bad day.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 27th, 2006 at 11:13 pm in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.