From Oscar-nominated Danish director Susanne Bier comes this small drama that was overlooked by both audiences and awards groups and is now looking for renewed life on DVD.

Things We Lost in the Fire is about the pain and struggle of losing someone you love, forgiving others who wrong you and made mistakes in their lives, and the power of redemption that is possible for any of us.  Audrey (Halle Berry) is struggling with the loss of her husband Brian (David Duchovny), a successful real estate developer who was killed trying to help a woman being brutally attacked.  They have two young children who are having difficulty even grasping the concept that their father is gone.

Brian’s best friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), a recovering heroin addict just struggling to stay sober, is invited to stay with the family by Audrey.  Audrey always shunned Jerry while Brian was alive; she was always trying to make Brian cut their friendship off.  She feels jealous of the friendship Jerry had with Brian (they were buddies since they were very young and Brian shared everything with Jerry) and wants to learn more about him and in the process learn even more about her husband.   

Jerry used to be a successful lawyer until he bottomed out into heroin use and has since been living a life of squalor and survival.  His friend’s shocking death puts him on the fast track to getting sober and trying to piece together some kind of life again.  He gets a real job again and starts taking better care of himself.  He becomes a friend to Brian’s children and most importantly a friend to Audrey.  But after Audrey kicks him out for something he says, Jerry relapses in a big way and it’s up to Audrey to try and save him from himself.

CRITIQUE

Things We Lost in the Fire is the type of movie you could catch on Lifetime anytime (it is full of overwrought melodrama, familiar storylines and some unconvincing situations), but one thing sets this film apart from the rest: an electrifying, stirring performance from one of the best actors of our time in Benicio Del Toro.  Without this amazing performance, the film is a throw-away, indie melodrama (but because of it, it is worth a look).

There does seem to be a trend of talented foreign filmmakers who come to the States to make their debut and something gets lost in translation, and this is mostly the case here for director Susanne Bier.  Besides the glorious decision to cast Del Toro (or I should say the luck of getting him to take the role), her film is soapy melodrama told in a very slow manner.  I think the quality of some of the great cable television shows out there hurts films like these as you can catch a much more engaging, slice-of-the-hard-life story in just one episode of a show like The Wire than the entirety of this film.

For small indies like these, they really need to be knockouts in order to be noticed (and Del Toro is the only one that makes this one something special).  Bier does do her part to try and spice up the familiar story through nice composition work and some interesting lighting and close-ups but the script is just far too familiar with nothing fresh or new about it (which is even more of a testament to Del Toro as an actor in what he does with this stale material).

Before I get into Del Toro’s performance, the rest of the cast is good and deliver solid (if unspectacular) work.  Halle Berry delivers a nice performance here but she has built up so much negative energy in my book that I now have a tough time liking anything she does.  I mean, from Catwoman to Perfect Stranger (worst female performance from an Oscar winner of all time) to the X-Men movies (where she must have been playing a piece of wood) to Gothika, just absolutely awful performances in awful films.  I have a hard time even picturing her delivering a good performance anymore so I viewed this one from her with a lot of skepticism.  But she is pretty good here even though I felt that sense of her preening and acting rather than simply inhabiting the character (the key to great acting which she did one time with Monster’s Ball).

The supporting cast is pretty good too.  Duchovny is solid but unmemorable, the child actors are not too cloying, Alison Lohman is adequate (whatever happened to her?), and Robin Weigert is strong even though she’s not given too much to do (it’s just good to see her in something after Deadwood).

Now, onto the most overlooked and underrated performance of 2007.  I can’t believe Del Toro did not get nominated for Best Supporting Actor; in fact, it should have been a very close two man race between him and Javier Bardem.  He was barely even mentioned in all the Oscar prognostications which means hardly anyone saw this film and it wasn’t appropriately marketed and promoted by the studio.

This is one of those rare performances that goes far beyond what was written, goes to new depths and reaches.  Del Toro is simply electrifying to watch, just like Brando in his prime, he can take a line of dialogue and do things no one else can with it.  And just like Brando, he could probably make reading the phone book into something interesting and exciting.  Seek this film out only to see one of our best actors delivering a performance miles above the ordinary.

THE VIDEO

The film looks outstanding; it is filmed in saturated colors and the muted tones look perfect.  This 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is clean, crisp and stunning.

THE AUDIO

Things We Lost in the Fire is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and the presentation is impeccable and impressive.  You can here every whisper of dialogue clearly which is key for this film as everyone is in hushed and mellow tones.

THE EXTRAS

There isn’t much as far as extras go, there are a handful of brief Deleted Scenes that are nice scenes that could have easily stayed in the film but must have been cut for time constraints.  There is one extra scene near the end that ties out something from the beginning of the film that I was surprised was cut.

There is a making of featurette called A Discussion About Things We Lost in the Fire that is your standard making of piece, with interviews from Biel, producer Sam Mendes (who was instrumental in this getting made), Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro and some of the other actors.  Biel discusses her motivations in making the film and what she thinks of the story, the characters, and this cast.  The actors discuss their characters and what is was like to work with the other actors.  They talk about the extreme dedication, research, and creative drive that Del Toro brought to the film and how he lifted up the rest of the performances.  It also includes a little bit of behind-the-scenes footage as well.  Nothing spectacular but gives you a good sense of where everyone is coming from and how they approached the project. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Things We Lost in the Fire is a melodramatic, small indie that would be lost in the shuffle of the massive amounts of films delving into the same areas without the incredible, Oscar-worthy performance from Benicio Del Toro.  That performance makes this a film worth renting.  There aren’t many extras to speak of but the transfer and audio is quite good.