Marvin's Room

B+

Marvin's Room, in essense, is a tearjerker. I usually don't like such movies as they are usually coy and so sapped in false sentimentality that tears come from pain rather than pain. Of course, crying during movies isn't something that I do very often (if you're interested, Finding Nemo almost did the job; In America actually took the pot), but I do appreciate a movie that touches the heart not because it wants to, but because it just is touching. Marvin's Room is one of those movies.

Marvin is an old bedridden man, and this movie isn't about him. It is however, about his two daughters. Bessie (Diane Keaton) is a middle-aged maid, who had spent her predominant adult life caring for her father and her aunt Ruth (Gwen Verdon). Bessie's younger sister, Lee (Meryl Streep) ran away to Florida 20 years ago, not wanting to be burdened down by her family, got married and had kids, the eldest, Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio) happened to be a delinquent, violent and cold. When Bessie is diagnosed with leukimia, Lee and her children were called back to see if they could be suitable bone marrow donors that could just save Bessie's life.

The movie is predominantly how the family comes together once more and helped one another pick up the broken pieces of their lives. We have seen this time and time again, of course, but Marvin's Room had a way of growing in the audience, through superb performances, finely balanced script, tender score and warm cinematography. There were times when I couldn't help myself but to smile, or laugh, or feel sympathy and love for the characters.

Diane Keaton takes centre stage portraying Bessie to her soul. She is the spirit that glues all the characters and plotlines together. Hence, it is imperrative that we feel for/towards Bessie as strongly as the characters on screen. We do. Leonardo DiCaprio shows abundant screen presence here, very impressively, relishing the scenes he shares with Keaton. Meryl Streep, unfortunately, is far too gallant to play Lee; it was clear in the beginning that Streep was over-the-top in the first half of the show; it wasn't until the very end when Streep showed Lee's depth, but she pulled through. Gwen Verdon and Robert De Niro provide good turns in supporting roles.

Director Jerry Zaks took the helm in his, thus far, only screen directorial effort. He is efficient. He neither gives more nor less than what we expect out of the material. Although the subject matter is bleak, Zaks veer us clear from unpleasantness that might have been unbearable. So we have a movie that is neither very original nor impactful, but in that we also have a beautiful gem which you could not help but view with appreciation.
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