REELGUY'S DVD REVIEW:
"My Sister's Keeper" will be your best cry since "The Notebook"
Maine connection: The writer of the novel "My Sister's Keeper," Jodi Picoult, lives in Hanover, New Hampshire (Maine's neighbor to the west). Picoult won the prestigious New England Bookseller award in 2003.
"My Sister's Keeper" will be the best cry you've had since "The Notebook." The director of both melodramas, Nick Cassavetes, manages to strike just the right emotional cord twice. Stars Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin ("Nim's Island") put in exceptional performances as a mother and daughter in a bitter struggle to decide what is best for their fractured family. The older daughter, Kate, was diagnosed with leukemia early in her life. Her parents, Sara (Diaz) and Brian (Jason Patric; "The Alamo") decide to have another child who is genetically engineered to be a perfect donor for the older sister. The younger child, Anna (Breslin), finally determines after multiple surgeries that she no longer wants her parents to decide what to do with her body. Anna "lawyers up" and sues her parents for the right to make her own decisions, including whether or not to continue to donate blood, tissue, and organs to Kate.
This engrossing family drama will lead to a rigorous discussion of the merits of each side of the legal/medical issues. Few films successfully stimulate you intellectually and emotionally-My Sisters Keeper is one of those rare films. The movie manages to be emotionally compelling without using cheap tricks for a tear or slipping into cliché. The young Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva performances are the centerpiece of the film. If either girl were not up to the task of portraying an angry, betrayed daughter or a sickly, guilt-ridden one, respectively, this movie would not have worked. The screenwriter and director who adapted the novel wisely chose not to make any of the characters one-dimensional. Both Anna and Kate are more than their primary emotions and the mystery behind their feelings go much deeper than is initially expressed. The supporting characters of Anna's slick lawyer (played by Alec Baldwin) and the still grieving judge assigned the case (Joan Cusack;"Confessions of a Shopaholic") prove as complete and interesting as the family at the heart of the story.
The real surprise comes from Cameron Diaz who brilliantly portrays a driven mother with tunnel vision about her daughter's care. Diaz manages to make the mother completely believable, sympathetic and yet, a terror to behold. One of the several thematic issues raised in the picture is how the audience should feel about this mother. Does she go too far for her daughter, ostracizing the rest of her family, or is there never too far for a sick child? The important moral/legal issues of end-of-life care, the right to determine the use of one's own body, and a parent's responsibility to a child are addressed in the picture without a clear right choice. With these heavy issues it is surprising the movie does not collapse under its own weight. "My Sister's" Keeper manages to remain well-paced and entertaining, not allowing the heart of the story to be overwhelmed by the overarching tragedy. Despite the sometimes confusing use of multiple narrators, "My Sister's Keeper" is a gem of a drama you can pour your own heartache into and feel better on the other side.
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language and brief teen drinking.
