Moonlight Mile

Released 2002
Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, Ellen Pompeo, Dabney Coleman
Directed by Lucy Walker
Reviewed April 9, 2003

I really enjoyed "Moonlight Mile," which has a different take on grief. As the movie opens, it's clear JoJo (Susan Sarandon) and Ben (Dustin Hoffman) have lost their daughter, but they don't behave the way we expect grieving parents to behave. There's no crying or histrionics, but who says there has to be? I had an uncle who gave me some advice when I was in a similar situation--he told me everyone grieves differently, and he was right. My two brothers and I grieved in three very different ways, and this movie understands that. Ben feels guilty and would like to break down, but he has a funeral and wake to arrange. He has too much responsibility to fall apart, while JoJo just doesn't have it in her. She's the type of person who recognizes the absurdity of life, and she disdains sentimentality and emotion. Although she's lost her only daughter to a senseless murder, she can't go against her nature.

It's one of the little funeral secrets that family members feel obligated to play a certain role publicly--at least for white families. From what I've seen, it seems black families are allowed to be more true to themselves than us WASPs who are only allowed a narrow range of emotions. I've been to both of my parents' funerals at different times in my youth, and they were completely different events under different circumstances, but my family's behavior was pretty much the same. I think it's one of the film's strengths that it recognizes this and can convey it so clearly. It has all of the awkward moments when people express their sympathies in the best way they can, but those people return to their lives while the family is left behind with a hole that will never be filled. Ben and JoJo lost their only daughter, and they will live with that every single day of the rest of their lives. What can you really say to someone at that moment? We all mutter some sort of platitude to temporarily comfort the family, but we can't really help them. More or less, we want to let the family members know people are thinking about them while they get through the initial days, which are so difficult.

There's a point in the movie when Ben nearly breaks down in the coffee shop, but Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal) saves him. Ben later tells his wife "I almost tripped, but he caught me." These are very nice scenes which show the emotions Ben is suppressing, and they help show why Joe feels needed in the household. They also reminded me of my own experience when I did trip and fall. My friend, Karolyn Bigelow, was there to catch me, though. She spent the initial three days with me and pulled me back from the brink. There was nothing else that would have gotten me through those days, and I'll always remember her for that.

There's really only one aspect of the movie that I didn't like, and that was the love story. From the moment they met in the post office, it was obvious Joe and Bertie (Ellen Pompeo) were going to fall in love and leave town together. I loved the dynamic of Ben trying to hold onto his near son-in-law while Joe looked for a way out without abandoning the parents who desperately needed him, and I felt the love story interrupted that. While I thought it was nice for Joe to have someone help him through his grieving, I thought the love story was too pat--especially since Bertie needed her own healing due the loss of her boyfriend. This is a strong film, but I think it would have been stronger if the two had just been friends.

Reviewed by Bill Alward
April 9, 2003
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