Stream it now The Door in the Floor 2004

 

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Love, young love to be exact. This movie was adapted from John Irving's "A Widow for a Year" and in it's simplicity, it acheived a viewing from me! I remember watching this one with my mom, she read the book and wanted to watch the movie because hell, who doesn't love Kim Basinger & Jeff Bridges? The Door In The Floor definatley hit some suggestive subjects and when I say that, I'm saying that this movie is for mature audiences, not some snot-nosed 13 year old!

This movie is adapted from John Irving's best-selling novel A Widow for a Year. If you don't remember this author's name, you might remember the movie made from another one of his books, Cider House Rules. This movie stars Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jon Foster, and Elle Fanning (yes, Dakota's little sister who often plays the younger version of Dakota in films). Jeff Bridges plays Ted Cole, a cynical but wise children's book writer who is married to Kim Basinger's Marion Cole, but they've grown apart and he makes the decision they should have a trial separation to see if they can work things out. Things have been really hard on the family since their sons, Timothy and Thomas were killed in a car accident and Marion is very depressed and often goes into periods of time where she "turns to stone" and just stares off into space at the very thought of what she has lost. This results in a lack of attention towards her young daughter she had after the accident, Ruth (Elle Fanning). Ted hires on Jon Foster's Eddie O'Hare, a teen aspiring to be a writer himself just to work for him for the summer doing various odds and ends but mostly as a driver. Eddie is attracted to Marion and unexpectedly, she responds to him for her own reasons. Being through such traumatic ordeals, however, she is not to be judged for her actions. Ted is completely aware of what is going on and just wants her to be happy. The three of them get very tangled up and it gets to a point where you just know you're watching real people. You can't put your finger on them and you don't know their complete intentions with anything, it's all a gray area. As a result, you can like all of them and they are spared from judgement.

This won't be a film for everyone. Not if you don't like long films or films that are mostly about talking but it has some good comic moments as well. If you want to be taken in and told a good story, you should see this movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The use of muted color with a one or two deviations in each frame really give a feel for the atomsphere and location of the film. I really like it but it didn't blow me away out of my seat so I give it an B+.

When it comes to adapting a John Irving novel, almost immeditatly you can see how completely impossible a task it really is. Nearly every part of the book is inexpendable, colorful and woeful characters that you cannot get enough of. And a yarn that spans over the course of ten, sometimes fifty years. And of them all, the most impossible has to be A Widdow for One Year (which also happens to be my favorite Irving novel). Now you might think I am going into this already knowing I'm going to like it. Far from the truth. I'm worried that the filmmakers will either screw up or perhaps just miscalculate (something that's almost inevitable in filmmaking with this kind of material). But I'm pleased to say that The Door in the Floor does indeed deliver.

The story revolves around the Cole Family, Ted (Jeff Bridges in one of his best performances) is a children's writer with an uncanny heart for cruelty. Marion (Kim Bassenger) his wife of over 20 years who has been worn thin by tragedy and Ted's sly way of destroying her spirit. And then one summer, Ted decides to set up a "trial seperation" and bring in Eddie (Jon Foster) a 17-year-old boy to be his assistant (actually he has other uses for him, but you'll figure that out later). When we see Eddie, we realize that he looks strangely like one of The Cole's two dead sons, which spiral this tale to it's sadly surprising end.

This film is dark and sad for the most part, each character lives in a pit of their despair. Ted is the only one who has any kind of outlet, Marion and Eddie look to each other for some kind of means of lonliness. It's up to you to decide which one is more distasteful. I personally think it's Ted's. And that's because Jeff Bridges makes what Ted do, even slightly askew, almost look degrading and yet sensible. Ted is a monster, yet his velvet-gravel voice seem to win you back even as he sets up another way of beating you down again. Bassenger keeps toe to toe with Bridges, though they only have two scenes together in the entire movie. Her sadness has given over to something worse, and something that she cannot live with for any longer. And then there's young Eddie. What Foster does for this kid who can easily be another wallflower in the Hamptons is something silently admirable. He doesn't overplay Eddie, but allow others to be seen through him. A great scene that shows this is when he's returning pictures to Ted's Mistress (Mimi Rodgers).

Tod Williams is a gifted filmmaker. We can see this especially when he puts his actors up front. He uses simplicity as a tool and keeps his camera tight. Takes nuances and allows them to just be instead of taking focus. Who knows what to expect from this man on his next project? I'm quite interested in finding out.

All in all, The Door in the Floor is a wonderful film filled with characters that are smart and cunning, sometimes if not for their own good. And I'm sure John Irving can go to sleep tonight, as can his loyal fanbase, and know that at least one more of his stories have been left unblemished.

I gave up on this one early as it just did not appeal. And what about the title? Can it be any more silly?

El Cativo has, again, spoken!

8 Out Of 10

These movies are some of my favorites. I have watched them all several times and always find them touching and beautiful odes to the family drama.

Imaginary Heroes is amazing. Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch should totally have gotten Oscars for their performances here in this movie. They really do shine. This is a powerful drama with a sad story. It is about a family dealing with the suicidal death of their oldest son. I have to say that they were very real in the portrail of this family and what they were going through. It is touching to see them fall apart and try to work together to put the family back together. I was surprised by the ending and haunted by it. It stucks with me everytime I watch it. I have to say that I really do not know how to put it really without giving anything away, but I do have to say that it really made me think. I have thought about it for a while now and still do not know how I would have acted in the same situation. I don't think that I would have been a hero either. Watch it.

Bee Season was another great film about family. It is about a family that seems very normal on the outside to everyone else, but they are falling apart at the seams. The acting here was amazing by all of them. I was totally blown away by Flora Cross. She was great and I couldn't believe it, but she was as good as the adult actors. I watched this because Juliette Binoche was in it and she is a favorite actor of mine and here she was as good as always. I was totally surprised by what was going on with her character and she really drew you into it. Most people will think that it is some boring movie about spelling. Don't think that. It really isn't. I cannot spell at all (I was the one that was always the first one out in my classroom spelling bee). Don't miss this because it is about spelling. There is a lot more depth here. I really liked the religous thoughts that were brought up by this film. I am not usually very religous and very much agnostic, but it really makes you think about things and ponder the greater meaning of life.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is more simpler in its story and meaning as the previous two, but it was so beautiful seeing this family's life. This is about a boy who endes up being a chess prodigy. It is interesting seeing how the two parents react to this and treat Josh after finding out that he has this extraordinary talent. The father wants him to win and beat all the other kids, his chess teacher wants to make him not care about the other players and to just win. It is a lot of pressure for the kid to have to deal with. The mom is the one who really stands up for Josh and I loved her. The mom is played by Joan Allen who I loved since seeing her in The Contender. This is a good family film. It would be good for every family to sit down and watch it together and then talk about it. Really good for parents to see it so that maybe they will think about the kind of pressure that they place on kids these days to win at whatever it is they are doing (cheerleading, basketball, football, or anything else that keeps score).

The Door in the Floor is a very interesting film to say the least. It is a very sad, family drama. The family is dealing with the death of their two sons. It has been 5 years since the accident and none of them have gotten over it. When the movie starts we see that the family is just barely hanging on. I have to say that I have thought about this film a lot. It really does show the characters for who they are without judging them. It doesn't slant the tone of the film and lets the view see them and their actions without comment. Most of the actions are considered bad and wrong in society, but when watching this film, I can see why they might do what they do. You really can't judge the characters for their actions because they are all dealing with this horrible tragedy the only way that they can.

John Irving is one of the most accomplished and popular fiction writers of our times. His pulpy, unconventional, and compassionate novels have translated into many films with varying degrees of quality (World According to Garp, good; Cider House Rules, okay; Simon Birch, dreadful). The Door in the Floor is an adaptation of his novel, A Widow for One Year, but it only adapts the first third of the novel. This time around, will the absence of quantity directly shape the quality of an Irving adaptation?

The plot for The Door in the Floor almost sounds like something you'd see late at night on Cinemax. Eddie (Jon Foster) is a teenager learning what it takes to be a writer. He becomes an assistant to Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges), a giant in the world of children's literature but a playboy at home. Eddie spends the summer at Ted's quaint cottage and is instantly smitten with Ted's estranged wife, Marion (Kim Basinger). Their's has been a loveless marriage ever since a tragic accident killed their two sons. Both are handling the grief in their own ways. Ted has become bitter and takes his anger out on his manipulation of other women, notably a neighbor (Mimi Rogers) who poses nude for his paintings. Marion has become insular and turns into a stone whenever the accident is mentioned.

Eddie tires of his glorified chamfering duties for Ted and his mistress. He spends his lonely days fantasizing about Marion, including masturbating to the image of her clothes. When Marion accidentally stumbles into this embarrassing situation, she not only calmly apologizes, but lays out additional pairs of clothing for Eddie to get his kink. This opens the door for Eddie to engage his fantasy, and embark on a deflowering tryst with Marion. Ted's reaction isn't one of anger or resentment, but more of a "job well done." It is around this time when we realize that Eddie looks remarkably like her two lost sons.

The film's best moments are not the colorless, tepid tryst between Eddie and Marion, or the broader comic moments with Ted's assault on tact; oh no, the best moments are when anyone onscreen shares time with Ruth (Elle Fanning), Ted and Marion's precocious 4-year-old daughter. She's a tad demanding, like insisting to know where every picture of her family remains, but comes across as adorable without stepping over into cloying. Her interaction with Bridges is wonderful, her wide-eyed questioning is sweet, and her acting is much more authentic and less robotic than her sister, the more seasoned Dakota Fanning (I Am Sam, Man on Fire). Hopefully the Fanning family has learned some do's and don'ts from the Culkin family.

Bridges' performance is amazing. He bares more than just his backside in this film. The role of Ted is very meaty, and Bridges' is the perfect actor to sink his teeth right into it. Bridges is alarmingly coy, blending a disarmingly comic roly-poly ability, as well as a brooding, stinging anger barely masked by ego and affability. I cannot imagine anyone else stepping into Ted's shoes and delivering a better performance. Bridges' tortured and droll work may be Oscar material.

Basinger's performance is equally amazing. Amazingly bad, that is. Her character is supposed to be shattered by the loss of her sons, but Basinger plays the role so heavily intoxicated by grief that Marion becomes nothing more than a walking ghost. She's so zombie-like for the entire film, that her performance could be rivaled by a coma patient. For some reason unbeknownst to me, ever since winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1997, Basinger has yet to follow with a good performance. Then again, the same could be said for Mira Sorvino, Angelina Jolie, and the list goes on.

The Door in the Floor is Jon Foster's real big break as a young actor. His previous roles amount to little, including Kevin Costner's son in 13 Days and the vitally integral Gas Station Cashier in Terminator 3. Some awkwardness is apparent in his rise to larger material, but Foster's apprehension serves his character best, like a dinner scene between him and Marion where he tells a bad joke to break the ice. Foster's performance is a bit bland, but that's because his character is more of a transparent adolescent fantasy.

Poor Mimi Rogers, a.k.a. Mrs. Tom Cruise Number One. She's a talented actress, and a fine-looking woman for her age (as her full-frontal nude scene exhibits), but she's been given such a small one-note character that it seems almost exploitative that such a well-known actress spends the majority of her time with her robe around her ankles. A late scene involving her violent hysteria at Ted dumping her is meant to be comic, but it seems more like a fizzy tantrum. All this and she gets the dubious notoriety of having a drawing of the most sensitive part of her anatomy projected in glorious widescreen.

By now an audience is more or less used to Irving's mix of slapstick and grief, of pathos and situational humor. The Door in the Floor follows this tried-and-true recipe and provides a healthy amount of entertainment for an audience. It can effectively make an audience laugh and supply knots in their throat at separate turns; however, in the harsh light of day, if you strip away at The Door in the Floor you'll find that most every character is self-involved, curt, closed off, and just plain unlikable. Ted is a jerk. Marion is a zombie, and not so great a mother. Eddie is bland. The only real character worthy of empathy is Ruth.

Now, movies don't necessarily all have to have likable characters, and in fact some of the most interesting and memorable characters are unlikable, but for a family melodrama it's important to feel for their grief instead of feeling their grief. If you can't feel for the characters then you're just watching without any baited interest. Many films can make you feel bad by watching someone on hard times, but it's a true accomplishment if you feel the character's personal pains (and somehow the films of Lars von Trier accomplish both). There's little investment beyond the surface level of amusement. So, The Door in the Floor is amusing, but it struggles to be anything beyond because of the limitations of its characters. For some, a movie that provides surface-level amusement from polished actors is good enough, and in some instances I'd agree.

Director Tod Williams (The Adventures of Sebastian Cole) also served as the adapter of Irving's dense work. Williams knows a thing or two about family melodrama and the denial of guilt, and he keeps the pacing brisk and the laughs at an even pace. Williams' best decisions are on the small visual notes he hangs on, like a stunning, visually alluring final image that will stay with you after the film ends. The story is a bit uneven in tone, thanks to Irving's eccentric source, but Williams saves his narrative whammy for the very end, and Bridges brilliantly delivers the backstory we've been holding our breath for.

The Door in the Floor is a solid, if surface-level enterprise in the exploration of guilt and mourning in a family setting. Bridges gives an amazing and memorable performance that helps make you forget about the rest of the film's somewhat lackluster acting. Fans of Irving's works will likely be taken back in pleasure, and fans of adult melodrama will not likely walk out disappointed. The Door in the Floor has glimpses of something more, but settles for being a well-acted, nondesript affair.

Nate's Grade: B-

(***)

FANTASTIC MOVIE! THOUGHT PROVOKING, EMOTIONAL, WITTY.