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'My Sister's Keeper': Death be not proud
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Courtesy of IMP Awards
My Sister’s Keeper is a classic example of what works in a book doesn’t necessarily translate well to the silver screen. The movie plays like a bunch of deleted scenes from an extended episode of ER without the strong, well-defined characters or the compelling narrative to maintain the viewer’s interest. To be fair, I’ve never read Jodi Picoult’s novel upon which the film is based, but given the movie’s unwieldy narrative structure and its vast dependence on subplots than an actual plot, I will assume that the film is largely faithful to the novel…maybe a little too faithful.
The film tells the story of Anna Fitzgerald who is conceived through in vitro fertilization in order to save her sister, Kate’s life, stricken with leukemia since she was three years old. As Kate’s condition worsens and her need for Anna’s kidney increases, Anna enlists the help of attorney, Campbell Alexander in order to sue her parents, Sara and Brian Fitzgerald, for medical emancipation and the rights to her own body.
The cast is undeniably impressive. Everyone here gives it their all; they’re all certainly skilled at crying on cue anyway. Jason Patric, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin and Sofia Vassilieva (of TV’s Medium) as Kate all turn in fine performances. Cameron Diaz gives us some of her most energetic acting work in years. However, that’s not really saying much considering her last two films were What Happens in Vegas with Ashton Kutcher and the dreadful The Holiday. Unfortunately, the cast’s artistic efforts are completely undermined by weak storytelling and a screenplay that’s far too simplistic for its own good. It’s really a crying shame (pun intended) because somewhere in there is a gripping story that may be achieved with a trip back to the editing room to tighten the film’s pacing.
Much of the film’s issues can be attributed to the overuse of music montages presumably to elicit an array of emotions from the audience. It’s become quite a fad in recent times, primarily in television, mostly medical dramas. A number of scenes are edited together, usually incorporating slow motion, with a sappy song played over them. Grey’s Anatomy is especially guilty of this. In the case of My Sister’s Keeper, rather than infuse the movie with the pathos it requires, each syrupy song feels very contrived, more like an attempt to sell the movie’s soundtrack than anything else. It’s a lazy, shameful way to get the tears flowing and My Sister’s Keeper manages to somehow achieve an entirely new level of shame. Much like Anna Fitzgerald, who is engineered for a particular reason, to save her sister’s life, this film feels as though it was concocted solely to elicit tears from its audience and as a test to see how many times its actors would be able to cry over the course of one movie.
Still, the film would be greatly helped by a trim here or there, with a much clearer focus on the main story: Anna’s quest to obtain the rights to her own body. There are far too many deviations from the primary objective. Anna doesn’t appear on screen for several minutes at a time. She becomes a minor character in a story which has a great deal to do with her. Kate and Anna are the film’s two most significant characters. If any other character’s are equally important, we have a difficult time being made aware of that fact or even getting used to it. The film simply lacks a suitable balance to each of the characters, principally caused by the obvious, clumsy pacing.
Though Campbell’s (Alec Baldwin) epilepsy might be significant in the novel, it holds no real importance here. It only seems like a cheap way to elicit sympathy for his character. Furthermore, Anna’s meeting with Judge De Salvo (Joan Cusack) is overlong and tries to further a smaller subplot concerning De Salvo’s own personal tragedy that, while quite sad in its own right, contributes nothing to the focal point of the film, it only slows things down even more. Again, many of these subplots and the unconventional story structure assuredly work just fine in written form, but feel extremely tedious and unnecessary as part of a motion picture.
There are no real notable lessons learned or conveyed, subtle or unsubtle. The purpose of the movie seems to be to tell us that cancer is debilitating, very heartbreaking, and it kills people…very…slowly…We didn’t need a movie to tell us that! Apparently, though, the filmmakers have absolutely nothing refreshing or original to say regarding the dying process or dealing with the loss of a loved one. The film doesn’t attempt to cope with death, it merely exploits its many ugly facets. It strives to be the ultimate tearjerker, but fails miserably. Perhaps the filmmaker’s wish to say that, out of tragedy doesn’t always come any epiphanies or a clearer, sturdier understanding of the world and life. As the film proposes, nothing really changes. But, if the journey it took to reach said conclusions is as artificial, overly morbid, and clumsy as this movie, then maybe the story wasn’t really worth telling in the first place.
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