"Moonlight Mile" (2002) - Movie Review

One of the awkwardness at its pinnacle is at attending a funeral. You do not know what to say, you know that what you are going to say does not really matter. You also know they know that. Apart from very close dear and near people of the lost loved ones, the rest of them are there for the requiem of formality. And one might wonder what these hearts that just had been ripped of this tragedy are going through which they are going to carry for the rest of their lives. “Moonlight Mile” starts off with that tone.

They enter the car for the funeral. The father Ben Floss (Dustin Hoffman) checks every one’s door. Then the mother JoJo Floss (Susan Sarandon) and the fiancé of the one who passed Joe (Jake Gyllenhaal) get in. Ben gets in the side of the front passenger seat. The driver turns on the engine and the radio music blares with a rock song. Feeling totally embarrassed after Ben gives a smile saying that all are set, he starts again with no music of course. JoJo leaps in front and turns it on. And Joe gives a smile. I remember my very close friend while then not so close lost his father. I and another friend of his reached there and saw him. He of course was tired but managed to give a smile. After a while of talking, there gathered a small group of friends and in fact slowly started making jokes. Feeling the awkwardness I asked him whether he is fine. He said, “Yes, I am tired of crying”. You see the mood director Brad Silberling brings in.

Having started at the right foot, the movie indulges in this loss and the bond of connection. Ben and JoJo have Joe. He is the remainder and the only solace in this tragedy. Joe is the greatest listener any one could ask for and especially in this occasion. He sits and stares with the smile he always has. He seems to understand everything. And with the chemistry in between these three, it is aware that they liked him for that. They had all plans set for their future son-in-law. And the loss is in the way where the one that looks so soft and tender turn on their side of revenge, and it is not to be seen at all. Ben and JoJo lost their daughter because some one came in the diner she was in; shot the waitress who we come to know is the killer’s wife and Diana, their daughter. Ben asks the District Attorney Mona Camp (Holly Hunter) what kind of method they use for death sentence. These are people who are acting on the loss. They really do not want to hurt any one but they need something to hold upon. The film allows them to let it go through Joe who lost not a fiancé but a friend.

So it seems there. It seems it has touched and also strikes the balance quite precisely dealing the sorrow with nuances of dark humour. And when there is something so out of place, as a lover of movie I want to edit the content to bring in the closure as a critic. The five minutes court room sequence is what I want to edit. I am sure many might find it the changing fulcrum of the movie, but it is out of focus. Joe tells, “… there's no way I'd be sitting here saying these things I can't believe are coming out of my mouth.” And it seems to me the explanation the writer gives it to himself. I can notice the slippage in confidence out there. I do not question the possibility of Joe expressing himself in a situation like that, but it is not the way the film finds it. There is another moment when Joe has dinner with the prospective business associate of Ben where he lets him off which is so darkly humorous and see how much he has been pushed through to contain himself. There it fits and in court room it loses its momentum.The movie does not disappoint after that. We see Hoffman and Sarandon finishing their characters with finesse. How are these actors able to do this? While Sarandon dances with verbal and vocal JoJo, Hoffman “lowers his shoulder” and makes us to perfectly visualize the regretful and yet positively oriented Ben. Gyllenhaal is the perfect match for a role like this. He listens and erupts when needed.

The movie is set in early 70s which marks only in the music and could have happened in any era. There are points in life which are punctuated for tragic reasons. It is unavoidable. Every one needs to meet it at some point of time. And every one knows it. Still it is there for what it is there. There is the change in the momentum. The realities, the meaning of existence and basically what next? The art of letting it go is what “Moonlight Mile” is all about. They hiccup but finish it fine.