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Cinema Junkie by Beth Accomando

Things We Lost in the Fire

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Benicio Del Toro and director Susanne Bier (Dreamworks/Paramount)

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As we head into the fall, studios are looking to release their serious awards contenders. That means, prepare for a lot of long movies with heavy emotional themes. One film being touted during this early awards season is Things We Lost in the Fire (opening Oct. 19 throughout San Diego), which looks to a woman coping with the loss of her husband.

Things We Lost in the Fire created an art house buzz because it was to be the first American film by Danish director Susanne Bier. Bier signed on to Dogme 95's strict Vow of Chastity (a philosophy of no-frills filmmaking laid out by Lars Von Trier) when she made Open Hearts in 2002. She would abandon those austere values to make two more Danish films, Brothers and After the Wedding. In all her work, though, she has displayed a knack for exploring complex family dynamics with grace and subtlety.

anne toomey
October 22, 2007 at 01:51 AM
Benicio del toro has it all, electrifying good looks, sexy eyes, and a pleasure to watch on the screen. He seems to be an underated actor, and I would love to see him in more films -----

Beth Accomando
October 22, 2007 at 05:24 PM
Here's something for you to look forward to: Del Toro is scheduled to play Che Guevara and to play Lawrence Talbot (the Lon Chaney role) in a remake of the classic Universal horror film The Wolf Man. These are in the works and may change but they sound good!

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NANCY hUTTON
October 22, 2007 at 06:43 PM
I am sorry.. I did not like this movie.. boring mostly. my daughter and my grown granddaughters agreed .

Dr. Darrell Lottie
November 28, 2007 at 08:18 PM
Halle berry give a real powerful emotional performance I believe that she will be nominated for a best actress academy award.

Hungry Hank from San Diego, CA
April 05, 2008 at 01:57 AM
I loved this film, even having to re-rank the films of 2007 since I got to this so late. And while I agree about Halle Berry being expendable in casting, she far exceeded my expectations since I had considered her performance in "Monster's Ball" a fluke. If anyone enjoyed this, I highly recommend checking out her last three films, "Open Hearts", "Brothers" and "After the Wedding". Bier is able to convey such amazing raw emotional honesty and somehow manages to make seemingly bizarre/impossible setups work brilliantly in the context of the film.