I heart John Cusack. So, naturally I’m incredibly biased towards the man. Besides my other favourite paramour Robert Downey Jr, Cusack just acts a storm. I simply like everything he’s done (Grosse Pointe Blank being my absolute favourite next to 1408), so when I saw Grace is Gone at my local, uh, supplier, I got it without a second thought.
Cusack plays Stanley Phillips, a sombre, serious man whose wife is serving in Iraq. He is a dedicated worker at work, and a strict but responsible father at home. He hangs on to the hope that his wife Grace will return. But she doesn’t.
In a tense and emotional scene which just highlighted Cusack’s acting ability, Stanley is told about his wife’s demise, and you can see the myriad of emotions that crosses his face. He waits for his two daughters to return, and when they do, he sits them down … and just can’t tell them.
Instead he takes them on a sudden and long road trip to a theme park in Florida, wondering all the way when and how he can tell them about their mother.
Cusack usually plays the sarcastic but adorable guy with a hidden, troubled core. His turn as Stanley – who is as far away from his usual roles as George Bush is to Barack Obama – was simply impressive. I remember thinking in the first ten minutes of the film: Hey. I don’t really like this dad. He’s such a drag. And I usually love Cusack’s characters from the get go!
But it’s thanks to Cusack’s skill that we end up caring for the stodgy and stern Republican (as the movie pointedly tells us). Cusack is the most emotive I’ve seen him, and in a heart-rending scene where he collapses on a bed and finally weeps, I sniffed and wiped away tears as he wept alone, safe from the eyes of his family, who depend on him to be unshakeable.
The movie is a small, simple movie about grief and a father’s journey to finally connect with his daughters. Thanks to Cusack, you can’t tear your eyes away from it.
Rating: 4 stars
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