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Movie Review: 'My Sister's Keeper'
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Photo: New Line Cinema
Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin star in the heartbreaking but triumphant film 'My Sister's Keeper'. Based on a book by international bestselling author Jodi Picoult, this big screen adaption feels heavy at times, but never tries too hard to manipulate the audience. Director Nick Cassavetes has a great story to tell here.
Sofia Vassilieva absolutely shines as Kate, a resilient and selfless teenager stricken with leukemia who is now heading into renal failure. Abigail Breslin plays Anna, a genetically engineered child brought into this world for the sole purpose of helping her ailing sister. Since her newborn days, Anna has provided blood and bone marrow in a constant attempt to save her sister's life. Now that Anna has reached the age of 11 and Kate is in need of a kidney, she's not going to stand for it anymore. She wants her days of being poked and prodded to end. With the help of her attorney Campbell Alexander (played to perfection by Alec Baldwin), Anna plans to have herself medically emancipated: if there are any organs to be donated or other medical procedures to be done, it will be by her decision alone, not her parents'. Breslin is quite an acting powerhouse at such a young age. Her performance is convincing and never forced.
Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric play the struggling parents Brian and Sara Fitzgerald. We have not seen Patric in a major role for some time, but he plays the part of the sympathetic father as if he never took a break. Diaz strays away from her comedic roles to sink her teeth into some drama. Although her character seems a bit less sympathetic at times than Patric, everything she does is for the love of Kate and Diaz does a fantastic job. Brian and Sara are distant at times, but they come together when it's needed most. After years of trying to stay strong for Kate, they begin to show signs of wearing down, but the bond is always there.
The film also stars Joan Cusack as the Judge presiding over Anna's case. Her character has a story of her own, and it's yet another sad subplot added to the mix. Cusack is dead-on in her scenes. With the loss her character has suffered, it almost makes the viewer feel guilty about focusing more on Kate. Evan Ellingson plays Kate and Anna's brother Jesse. He gets pushed to the side for most of the movie. His parents are so preoccupied with the situation at hand, he is almost an afterthought. In one particular scene, Jesse comes home late, worries about his parents yelling, but instead realizes Brian and Sara didn't even realize that he hadn't come home. Jesse shows not a sense of relief, but a bit of sadness, wishing his parents would have noticed. Thomas Dekker also stars as Taylor, a fellow cancer patient and love interest for Kate. In the short time they have together, what Taylor and Kate have is teenage love, but it feels refreshing and real.
Every scene is powerful and well written. With so much confrontation and sadness going on around Kate, at times the movie becomes a bit too much to handle. But then it brings us back around with extraordinary scenes like the one at the beach, where Kate smiles for hours after being able to experience the ocean and the setting sun.
Unfortunately, this film will more than likely suffer in the box office department. These days, many moviegoers attend the movies to escape reality. This one may hit a little too close to home for some and send them running to a different movie. For those that choose not to run, just know that 'My Sister's Keeper' is a keeper for sure.
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