Why We Will Willingly Go Cry

Cameron Diaz and Sofia Vassilieva

This June, (June 26) we will see the opening of a film that absolutely promises that we will cry, nay, sob. Nick Cassavetes, struggling to live up to his father’s great work, worked with Jeremy Leven to write the screenplay for Jodi Picoult’s book My Sister’s Keeper. They then got Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, and Alec Baldwin, among some fresher faces, to sign on. The result is a trailer, a trailer alone that can make you cry.

Sofia Vassilieva plays young Kate Fitzgerald, the cancer-stricken daughter of Sara (Diaz) and Brian (Jason Patric). The doctors recommend having another child to be able to supply Sofia with organs she may need to keep her alive, and so Anna (Breslin) is born. Anna keeps Sofia alive with bone marrow donations and such, but at the age of eleven she now has to hand over her kidney. Having had enough of this, Anna goes to lawyer Campbell Alexander (Baldwin) to sue her parents for rights to her body. This catches the entire family off guard, the parents stuck between their love for Anna but their desperation to keep Kate alive. The trailer is full of heartwrenching clips of Brian and Sara’s marriage disintegrating at a time they need each other most, Kate supporting Anna and the bond between them, and Kate meeting a boy and getting married (looking very young, leading one to believe it’s a marriage before the end).

Basically the film looks utterly heartbreaking, and yet, beautiful. I tend to avoid movies that look irreparably tragic - why put yourself through that especially in an era in which we need escapist films? But this looks like an endearing, poetic portrait of family bonds during the most trying of times. Abigail Breslin amazes me with her ability at her age, and it looks like Diaz might actually prove she can act with this heavier type of role.

Is there the chance that the clips chosen for the trailer played against powerful music got a bigger response out of people than the film itself will? Possibly, but it definitely deserves the chance to prove that concern wrong. This might not be the best writing or the most amazing cinematography, but maybe at its simplest it will make you appreciate what and who you have in your life.

June 29th, 2009 by Courtney Iseman | Posted in Hollywood | (0)