Film Review: Moonlight Mile (2002)

There are films that are made for therapeutic purposes, mainly to provide some sort of emotional closure to their authors. While being more personal in nature can make such films stand out from the rest, such films often leave much to be desired in terms of entertainment for the audience. Moonlight Mile, 2002 drama written and directed by Brad Silberling.

The plot is set in the small (and fictional) Massachusetts town of Cape Ann in 1972. The protagonist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is Joe Nast, a young man whose life gets shattered following the murder of his fiancée Diana Floss (played by Careena Melia). He decides to move into the home of her grief-stricken parents Ben (played by Dustin Hoffman) and Jojo (played by Susan Sarandon) and help them deal with the loss by disposing of her property, wedding invitations, and, later, joining Ben's real estate deal. Things get complicated when Joe begins falling in love with Diana's friend Bertie Knox (played by Ellen Pompeo), a woman tending a local bar whose owner is her boyfriend who went missing while fighting in the Vietnam War.

Silberling found the inspiration for the script in personal tragedy. In 1989, his girlfriend, the young actress Rebecca Schaeffer, was murdered by a deranged fan. The protagonist obviously serves as Silberling's alter ego, and the plot serves as an opportunity for the author to exercise his demons while exploring not only his, but other people's ways to confront the unimaginable loss. The film is well-acted, which shouldn't be surprising, since young Jake Gyllenhaal is joined by an experienced and respected Oscar-winning cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Holly Hunter in the small role of a prosecutor demanding that the grieving family and fiancé testify at the murder trial. Unfortunately, Silberling's skills of direction don't match the skills of the cast. The tempo of Moonlight Mile is almost unbearably slow, and it actually takes a lot of effort for viewers to realise that the plot is actually set in the early 1970s. The music soundtrack is often annoying, and the generally disappointing impression is completed with the predictably Hollywood-like ending.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7