2002, 1hr 57 min., Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and brief strong language.�Dir: Brad Silberling. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal (Joe Nast), Dustin Hoffman (Ben Floss), Susan Sarandon (JoJo Floss), Ellen Pompeo (Bertie Knox), Holly Hunter (Mona Camp), Dabney Coleman (Mike Mulcahey).

The trailer for this one was brilliant. "Their lives aren't typical, but they're just like yours." No matter that I saw it a hundred times, I never tired of it, which is rare. The music used is perfect, and the glimpses of Hoffman and Sarandon gives you notice that these two are on their A-games. The movie could've won the Best Picture award on this two minutes alone.

Now, how about when we stretch it out another hour and fifty-five minutes? It does so just fine, and although the movie might not make my top five for Oscar hopefuls, there are a couple of performances that should well be remembered come awards season.

Jake Gyllenhaal (some day I'll learn how to spell it without copying from IMDB.com) is very good at playing overwhelmed and morose characters, at least from the two movies I've seen him in: Mile and indie The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston. I'd actually like to see him try a romantic comedy, or anything involving hearty laughing, because thus far the only times I crack a smile during his performances are uneasy guffaws.

Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon are perfection and a relief as 'normal' parents dealing with grief in very different yet similar ways. Hoffman wants to move on, a little too quickly, while Sarandon doesn't want any help in overcoming her sadness yet is upset by those who don't at least offer comfort. The filmmakers give a symbolic example to their difficulty; Hoffman having to pick up every phone call as if it is the magic answer despite delivering only sadness; Sarandon wearing three watches in a futile effort of turning back time on one arm while trying to count down the minutes until she can move ahead on the other arm.

Newcomer Ellen Pompeo is a younger Renee Zellweger as Gyllenhaal's potential girlfriend, with plenty of perkiness coupled with a serious, emotional side in which her lips are pursed even more than usual. Holly Hunter and Dabney Coleman are as good as it gets in their supporting roles, which really lifts the movie in importance.

Director Brad Silberling, or at least cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, frames the shots elegantly, and you can tell that each shot is hand-crafted to exact specifications. Nothing is missed, and every bit of the shot is important. The dialogue fit with this as well, with every word being there for a reason, and very few seem out of place for the situation.

So much of this movie I related from last year's powerful In the Bedroom, and not just because it takes place in coastal New England (that just makes the film look better). I feel like I should read through my review of it to see how many of the descriptions are the same, that two serious adult dramas driven by people dealing with death of someone young and full of hope. Like Bedroom I didn't feel manipulated by the filmmakers, as if I was supposed to be feeling something at a certain time, especially since the actors conveyed so many different feelings in one scene that you couldn't tell what they were "supposed" to be feeling, either. One quote from my review fits here as well: "The quietness of the film grabbed me, the feeling of taking the movie one scene at a time."

One major difference, though, is that while Bedroom seems to live on off screen at the end, there is some sort of unscrambling in Mile, that something was figured out for these people. But who says there are no resolutions in life. Like the trailer said, their lives aren't typical, but they're just like ours.