“The Lovely Bones” (2009)

A retrospective.

A retrospective.

“The Lovely Bones” (2009). Picture courtesy of and with thanks to www.pastposters.com

Film fans of a certain vintage will remember New Zealand born filmmaker Peter Jackson’s debut film Bad Taste long before the multiple Oscar winning success stories that were his incredible feats with The Lord of the Rings films as well as his King Kong interpretation that was sandwiched in between and now by the masterpieces They Shall Not Grow Old and The Beatles: Get Back that bring his 35 year, 15 film cinematic career up to date. I haven’t seen Bad Taste since my college days but I remember it being on a strict and constant rotation, not for any great love or enthusiasm as I found it all rather pun intended distastefully dreadful, but because we had few other choices at the time for our pre-historic VHS video cassette player! But over the cinematic years that have followed I have, with one or two exceptions, seen every film released by Peter Jackson but I stumbled over one I hadn’t seen, The Lovely Bones, and whilst I didn’t overly love or even enjoy his 10th official release as a director in 2009, I found it rather intriguing.

“My name is Salmon. Like the fish. First name Susie. I was 14 years old when I was murdered, on December 6th 1973”.

So begins The Lovely Bones, based on the 2002 novel of the same name written by Alice Sebold and as per the above, narrated from a heaven known as the “In-Between” by Saoirse Ronan as the 14 year old murdered schoolgirl Susie Salmon. Ronan’s performance here stands out in only her sixth feature length credited role and she first came to my attention two years later in 2011’s Hanna before excelling in the Wes Anderson directed Grand Budapest Hotel, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird in 2017 before re-teaming with Anderson once more in 2021 and The French Dispatch, and the underrated Tom George directed See How They Run last year. As well as a constant narration throughout from a Ghost or What Dreams May Come kind of world between worlds, Ronan as Susie watches over both the repugnant actions of her killer as well as the family who grieve her passing and the horrible snuffing out of a life on the precipice of career dreams and the first love of her young life.

Director Peter Jackson and his then 14 year old future star Saoirse Ronan. Picture courtesy of and with thanks to www.sfgate.com

Although I’d categorise the stellar cast list as supporting of her central role, it’s also arguable to describe the this cast list as an ensemble with the brilliant Stanley Tucci nominated for his performance as an actor in a supporting role at the 2010 Academy Awards with Michael Imperioli and Mark Wahlberg completing the major male roles. Whereas Imperioli is very good as the frustrated detective assigned to the case, Wahlberg is arguably better and he has to be as ostensibly this is a father/daughter tale and the utter desolation resting on the shoulders of a father who misses his “First Mate” and the “Thing of Beauty” he sees in the guise of a daughter he dotes on. The scene from which I’ve appropriated these two quotes is a true stand-out and just before the horrible turn the film takes around the 30 minute mark.

The two female lead roles fall to Rachel Weisz as a heart broken mother unable to cope and deliberately distant from the horrible reality in front of her with Susan Sarandon left to inject a degree of levity as her mother and grieving grandmother. Sarandon is excellent as the borderline alcoholic who is seemingly never without a drink or a cigarette and however well played her role may be, it’s either the comic relief needed in such a sombre film or it’s awkwardly misjudged and out of place.

Brian Eno provides a hauntingly beautiful piano score at times for a film I never truly engaged with and felt was a little flat even with those What Dreams May Come comparisons of a bright and mystically surreal world between worlds. I enjoyed each and every performance, especially those of Saoirse Ronan and Mark Wahlberg, but I’d become entirely disengaged with the film as a whole long before the end credits.

Afterword and selected reviews

“…bold, daring original filmmaking, with arguably more emotional and intellectual meat to chew on than either the Rings trilogy or Kong. As terrific on terra firma as it is audacious in its astral plane it is doubtful that there would be a more imaginative and courageous film in 2010".

Empire

“While Peter Jackson gets the thriller scenes right, the conceit of Susie trapped in a DayGlo world between the one she left and her final resting place, imparting lessons on coping with death, feels preachy.”

USA Today

“…an expensive-looking mess that fails to capture the mood, and the poetry, of its source material with good actors fighting a poorly conceived script, under the guidance of a director who can no longer make the distinction between imaginativeness and computer-generated effects.”

Salon

“It’s stuffed full of Peter Jackson’s typically dazzling imagery, but The Lovely Bones suffers from abrupt shifts between horrific violence and cloying sentimentality.”

Rotten Tomatoes

Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 250 blog articles (with 500+ individual film reviews) within my film library from which to choose:

“Sharper” (2023)
Can you cheat an honest man?medium.com

“Empire of Light” (2023)
Heart breaking seaside postcard from mental illness.medium.com

“Knock at the Cabin” (2023)
What would you do to save the world?medium.com