“I just feel lost, Frankie. You know? I just, um... I just feel lost.”
-- Kathy from House of Sand and Fog
“Sometimes things happen that are out of your control and those are the times you have to stand up and be a man.”
-- Dwight Arno from Reservation Road
One evening, in a horrific second, the lives of the Learner family are changed forever. Their son, Josh Learner (Sean Curley), is killed by a hit and run driver outside a gas station on Reservation road. The family has just come from a music recital where Josh has played the cello beautifully-- an incredibly gifted musician. They stop at a gas station. While his parents, Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix), Grace (Jennifer Connelly) and sister Emma (Elle Fanning) go inside the station, he remains outside to release fireflies from a jar. Meanwhile, Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) and his son, Lucas (Eddie Alderson) are coming home from a Boston Red Sox game. They had a great day at the game. Lucas is exhausted from the excitement of the game. Dwight is cruising along; and he is distracted by his cell phone. His son is sleeping on the passenger side. In a matter of seconds, he swerves to avoid another car, but in doing so he hits Josh. Dwight knows he has hit and possibly killed the boy, but he panics and keeps driving. The Learner family has lost their son. Ethan has witnessed the accident, but all he knows is that a black SUV is responsible for taking his son away from him. Dwight tells Lucas, they hit a log. Each father will deal with this in his own way.
Terry George’s Reservation Road attempts to be a film in the same league as recent, great American dramas like We Don’t Live Here Anymore, House of Sand and Fog and Little Children. Sadly, the film never rises to the level of those films. It has all the tragic elements that made House of Sand and Fog one of the great tragedies of recent American cinema, but it falls short in the end. Terry George is a very accomplished director. Some Mother’s Son and Hotel Rwanda are stellar films. Yet, he and screenwriter, John Burnham Schwartz, adapting from Schwartz’s novel, seem to miss the mark. I am not sure why it does not come together, but the film is saved by some wonderful acting. Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly manage to give their characters incredible life. Without them, this would be another television movie of the week. These three actors give the film its pedigree. Yes, it desperately smells of Oscar nomination, so much, that I am afraid it hurts the film at times. The coincidences of the film sometimes feel forced, but maybe that is the point. The coincidences move the film along and create an uneasy feeling. Perhaps, they should try to create the tension needed to give the film a pulse. Still, it is the acting that rises to the occasion.
Mark Ruffalo’s Dwight is problematic. While Ruffalo brings all his talent to the role, Dwight brings all of this on himself. He digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole. Why did he run? He panicked and by doing this, he has set himself on a downward spiral. As police are canvassing the area for a black SUV, he parks his in the garage and gets a rental car. Dwight Arno just wants to spend time with his son. He is divorced from his wife, Ruth Wheldon, an underused Mira Sorvino. He cherishes the time he has with his son. On the night of the accident, he brings Lucas home with a bump on his head which infuriates his ex-wife. Their marriage was a disaster. Dwight has ample opportunities to turn himself in, but he does not. The ironic reason for his not coming forward is that he wants to spend time with his son. Things only get worse. Ethan Learner, fed up with the police investigation, goes and hires a law firm to help with the case. Dwight is an attorney at the firm and he is put in charge of the case. I want to say that Dwight is a canard as a character. He should know better; his rationale for prolonging the anguish does not work. Ethan lost a son and Dwight must in the end lose time with his son. Will he do the right thing? Ruffalo is always good, but it is not enough in this case. Ever since, You Can Count On Me, he has delivered a string of powerful performances. I am baffled by his Dwight. I really want to hate him. He is a despicable character in the film. Ruffalo may be too likable for the part. The verdict on Dwight rests with how he handles himself with the inevitable showdown with Ethan.
Last week, Joaquin Phoenix walked away with We Own the Night. As Ethan Learner, he delivers a different kind of intensity. A college professor, he is overcome with grief and yearns for revenge; Phoenix delivers an intense study in the anger brewing up inside. In many ways, Ethan Learner is metaphor for America in the post-9/11 landscape. Why did this happen? How does one deal with it? He wants to lash out at someone. He wants justice, but he is not getting it from the local police. Most hit and run cases are never solved as he finds out. He goes online and finds an online community of victims’ families. This was a nice touch, but many critics have a problem with the use of the internet in place of intimate telephone conversations. It is a routine, everyday activity. I welcome the use of Google, chat rooms and instant messaging in a film as long as it helps move the plot. In this case, it does and it helps show what is going through Ethan’s mind. His interaction with other parents in the same situation is vital to the story. He goes around photographing all of the black SUV’s that have damage to the front. He does this in front of a Saudi diplomat’s house and this gets him into trouble with the Connecticut police who are trying to help him. His obsession with finding the killer is tearing his family apart. His wife, Grace, wants to move on with their lives. Leave it to Jennifer Connelly to be the wise one. In such films as Little Children, House of Sand and Fog, Waking The Dead and Requiem For A Dream, she has become the first lady of American drama. She shines as Grace. She is an anchor. She is devastated just as much as Ethan, but she realizes you have to go and focus on the child that is still alive. Still, Ethan must go on his own path. He cannot rest until he confronts the person who did this to his family.
Reservation Road should work better than it does. The death of a child has a ripple effect on the two families in the film, especially the two fathers; one who has a lost a son and one who is trying not to lose his son. Dwight’s actions make sense, but to what end? Is it worth all this just to prolong the inevitable reckoning? The heightened melodrama only works in parts and not as a whole. Dwight could be forgiven for his panic at the beginning, but with each passing moment, it is very hard to even have empathy for him. He digs himself in a hole too deep. The character of Dwight Arno is one I am going to have to wrestle with for now. I am not sure what to think of him once the credits roll.
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