I have quite possibly seen every John Cusack movie there is to see, as I like him whether he's being a quirky, funny guy, or as he is here, exploring his emotions and bringing us along with him.
In Grace Is Gone he plays a nerdy guy who had aspirations of serving his country, but had them dashed because of his poor eyesight. His wife fills that role instead, getting sent to Iraq to fight in the war. He's left back home with his job working in a home store "selling shit", and taking care of their two daughters. He's so out of touch with his job as a parent, he tells his oldest daughter to go apologize to her teacher for falling asleep in class, instead of delving into her problems to find out why she's doing this.
He gets the news one day on his doorstep that his wife, Grace, has passed away, yet once his daughters arrive home from school, he can't figure out how to tell them their mom has died. Instead, he takes them out for a drive, then spontaneously keeps driving, telling the girls they're going to miss a few days of a school and go to a theme park. His journey to the theme park is really his journey into himself as he tries to figure out where his life will go from here.
What's amazing about this movie is that through Cusack's actions and face, we see all his pain. We can see his grief, his confusion, all of it. At points I wanted to yell at the screen and just tell him to tell his daughters about their mom, as they longer he let it go without telling them, the harder it was going to get.
In Grace Is Gone he plays a nerdy guy who had aspirations of serving his country, but had them dashed because of his poor eyesight. His wife fills that role instead, getting sent to Iraq to fight in the war. He's left back home with his job working in a home store "selling shit", and taking care of their two daughters. He's so out of touch with his job as a parent, he tells his oldest daughter to go apologize to her teacher for falling asleep in class, instead of delving into her problems to find out why she's doing this.
He gets the news one day on his doorstep that his wife, Grace, has passed away, yet once his daughters arrive home from school, he can't figure out how to tell them their mom has died. Instead, he takes them out for a drive, then spontaneously keeps driving, telling the girls they're going to miss a few days of a school and go to a theme park. His journey to the theme park is really his journey into himself as he tries to figure out where his life will go from here.
What's amazing about this movie is that through Cusack's actions and face, we see all his pain. We can see his grief, his confusion, all of it. At points I wanted to yell at the screen and just tell him to tell his daughters about their mom, as they longer he let it go without telling them, the harder it was going to get.
