In the Bedroom 2001

     This film is based on a short story by Andre Dubus titled Killings 1979.  The setting of this film is Mid-Coast Maine.  The Fowler family has one son Frank, he’s home from his freshman year at college and he is on summer vacation.  His mother Ruth is the school choir director and she is unhappy with Frank dating soon-to-be divorced mother Natalie.  She is several years older than Frank with two children.  Matt is the town doctor and Frank’s father, he doesn’t see a problem with the relationship?  Natalie’s jilted husband causes all kinds of problems until a tragedy shakes this community to its very core.
     This film is very accurate with the mannerisms, dialect and social customs of this area.  It is a complex film that can be troubling at times and too intense for many teens.  There is a lot of grief in the lives of the characters and it could be too much for young viewers.  Especially those that have lost a relative or friend.  A few violent scenes that are graphic and wrenching.  There is minimal family communication, sharing and children witness abuse that is not shown.  There are times that this film feels and seems like something ordinary, everyday and real.  It also seems up close and personal to your own life.  You have to remind yourself that this is not your story!!  Some reviewers found the movie to be boring?  Others didn’t want the movie to end?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

130 min, Crime directed by Todd Field and written by Andre Dubus, Robert Festinger, Todd Field with Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother, William Wise, Celia Weston, Karen Allen, Frank T. Wells, W. Clapham Murray, Justin Ashforth, Terry A. Burgess, Jonathan Walsh, Diane E. Hamlin, Camden Adams, Henry Field, Bill Dawkins.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10 with 36,380 views, Roger Ebert 4*, Rotten Tomatoes 93% with 138 critics 81% with 20,107 user ratings, Metacritic 86 out of 100 with 31 critics (27 positive, 4 mixed) 7.4 out of 10 user scores with 70 ratings (52 positive, 11 mixed, 8 negative), Common Sense Media, Chloe Mead, age 16+, 3* violence, 3* sex, 3* language, 3* drinking, drugs, smoking, Reel Views James Berardinelli 4*, Amazon 3.8* out of 5* with 480 reviews, Letterboxd 3.7* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Camden, Old Orchard Beach, Belfast, Owls Head, Rockland, Rockport, Wiscasset and Tevett, Maine.  There were 15 takes with Sissy Spacek slapping Marisa Tomei.  In the final version of the film the first take was used.  The title refers to the rear compartment of a lobster trap known as the bedroom.  It can only hold two lobsters and they can turn on each other.  Spacek decorated the house in which her character lives.  This is the highest grossing non-IMAZ film in history to never reach the top 10 in a given week?  The poems are William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s My Lost Youth.  Many of the products used in the film are real regional products commonly found in seacoast Maine.  

Awards:  Sissy Spacek for Best Actress, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, New York Film Critics, Independent Spirit Award, Satellite Award, LA Film Critics Assn.  Todd Field and Rob Festinger Satellite Best Adapted Screenplay, Todd Field National Board of Review.  Tom Wilkinson Best Male Lead Independent Spirit, New York Film Critics Award.