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Movie Overview
Cast
Halle Berry
Benicio Del Toro
David Duchovny
Director
Susanne Bier
MPAA Rating
R - for drug content and language
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)
REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
OTHER
(1 - 24) of 24
OFCS Rating: 50% Rotten
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"'Things We Lost in the Fire' deserves praise for its top-notch performances and its humanistic treatment of such serious subject matter as grief and addiction."
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Betty Jo Tucker
2/5
" As yet another example of a gifted foreign filmmaker...fudging up their reputation by traveling over to Tinsel Town for some Western promise,
Things We Lost in the Fire
is Lifetime lite cinema masquerading as actual A-list excellence."
PopMatters
Bill Gibron
A
"Haunting cinema...an exquisite film of mammoth dramatic reach and sympathy, and it presents Susanne Bier as one of the most observant, patient filmmakers working today."
eFilmCritic.com
Brian Orndorf
C-
"Del Toro pulls off a tight-wire dramatic performance that keeps the film afloat, but can't obscure the constant hiss of pop psychology that pierces nearly every scene."
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
"Jerry and Audrey are locked into reductive storylines, so their shadowed eyes and perspiring brows are only telling you what you already know."
PopMatters
Cynthia Fuchs
2.5/4
"...never entirely comes off as the searing, hard-to-watch drama it's presumably supposed to be."
Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
2/4
"Light on plot, which wouldn't be a problem if the mildly rote characters held more depth than they do."
TheMovieBoy.com
Dustin Putman
B
"Finds its substance in the personalities and relationships of the characters -- so much substance that a conventional 'story' isn't even needed."
EricDSnider.com
Eric D. Snider
3/4
"Surprisingly, this insightful tearjerker is padded with expressive layers well beyond the average made-for-television sentiments because of the penetrating performances."
World Voice News
Frank Ochieng
C
"Bier's skill in rising above melodramatic convention appears to have abandoned her on the trip to America."
One Guy's Opinion
Frank Swietek
4/5
"A deeply emotional film that gives us a deeper respect for those trying to recover from the loss of a loved one or enslavement to an addiction."
Spirituality and Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
3.5/4
"
Things We Lost in the Fire
deals frankly and openly with the wounds -- some obvious, some not so obvious -- that are left by the tragic, untimely loss of a loved one. At times, the film is unsparing."
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
2/4
"Overwrought indies aren't typically my thing and this achingly angsty melodrama does little to alter my thinking."
Palo Alto Weekly
Jeanne Aufmuth
"Things We Lost in the Fire: Any sense of rhythm or pace, and an ending that won't make you groan."
Planet Sick-Boy
Jon Popick
"There are certainly some problems, but there's enough honesty about the cycle of addiction and the struggle of recovery to smooth out the rough edges."
UR Chicago Magazine
Mark Dujsik
C-
"Damaged individuals healing one another is a serviceable idea for a film, but
Things We Lost in the Fire
is missing an essential component: plausibility."
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
Mark Pfeiffer
B
"Often as overwrought as it is heartrending."
Lessons of Darkness
Nick Schager
3/5
"However, there is one element to "Things We Lost In the Fire" that does work spectacularly well and that is the central performance by Benicio Del Toro."
eFilmCritic.com
Peter Sobczynski
3.5/5
"Danish director Bier focuses on themes and relationships in what's otherwise a rather contrived melodrama."
Shadows on the Wall
Rich Cline
A-
"It is refreshing to see an American film that is not steeped in cliché. The twists and turns of this personal drama go in unexpected and satisfying directions."
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
3/5
"Complicated and raw"
Filmcritic.com
Sean O'Connell
B+
"Though not always faithful in small things,
Things We Lost
is faithful in much. The individual moments are sometimes off, but the large emotional resonances are right."
Christianity Today
Steven D. Greydanus
6/10
"Only the acting is remarkable in this agonizingly morose, tedious melodrama that unfolds at the pace of a death march."
www.susangranger.com
Susan Granger
0/4
"Maudlin, mawkish, unintentionally hilarious, and utterly devoid of human emotion. The word I'm searching for, I guess, is "alien.""
Film Freak Central
Walter Chaw
(1 - 24) of 24
OFCS Rating: 50% Rotten
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