Just like Heaven, 2005
Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Donal Logue, Mark Ruffalo
Stage: Home theatre, late Saturday night
Just like Heaven in short: Elizabeth Masterson, a dedicated doctor in San Francisco, had almost no time for anything. When her sister with two kids set her up on a date, she gets into a tragic car crash and gets in a coma. Meanwhile, an landscape architect named David Abbott moves into San Francisco and coincidentally, into Elizabeth's apartment for rent. While at the apartment, Elizabeth's spirit haunts him. She doesn't remember who she is, who her family is, and what she did - All that she remembered was her apartment and where everything was. To settle the arguments, David agrees to figure out who Elizabeth really is. When they get close to figuring out who she is, they eventually find love with one another and as they finally know who she really is, they learn that fate really has put them both together.
Preps: Well, unfamiliar, doesn't ring any bell. But I think Witherspoon could be cute. Genre..well, something appropriate for my state of mind. Let's find out.
Reality: Well, in a long run, I try to avoid the movies in this genre that are about the average. Or below expectations set. This is a hard genre, because most movies that derive from Hollywood machine, end up in some sort of comedy /romance /family adventure genre (whereas the other half would go to drama, I guess).. at least, judging from last 15 years of production and what do we have the pleasure of seeing. So to start with, a tough nut to crack, especially from the saturation point of view. Still, there were some positive surprises lately and I wanted this to be one as well.
The plot is simple and you don't need to be Einstein to follow it through. I like the energy between Witherspoon and Ruffalo. I bought it and for this reason I was a bit mushy at the end of the piece. However in the mean time I got bored and my mind flew away. This is not a quality of a good piece, as a good piece holds you to your bones until the very end. I wanted to check out the music, however almost impossible, the tunes never got the attention they would deserve. However, music can play the most powerful role in this genre and it's a shame they didn't abuse it more. To wake up from a dream and realize the one you just started to love, doesn't exist anymore (e.g. she didn't remember him).
The agony of the guy was so real, I fell into the feeling really deeply. Therefore I must claim the ending of the movie (very Hollywood-like, still..) extremely good and it made up for the rest of the movie, where I was stuck with stupid scenes, or dialogues. There are some scenes here that make this piece remarkable and in perticular emphasize the meaning of true love, soul spirits,
etc. Therefore, maybe a good choice for a relaxed afternoon when you need to dream away.
My personal rating: 5,0 (I wouldn't go for it if you aren't in a mushy mood, but still.. could touch your heart. If you have someone you lost due to a coma or trauma, you might fall into the spirit of the movie)
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