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Things We Lost In The Fire
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (28th March 2008). |
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The Film
 David Duchovny is dead. This is a problem. It is a problem because as Brian in the film "Things We Lost in the Fire", he had a hot wife named Audrey (Halle Berry), two precocious kids with big mops of hair, a fancy house in Washington state, and a junkie best friend named Jerry (Benicio del Toro). Brian was a kind-hearted guy - especially for a powerful real estate broker - and his kindness was his undoing. While buying his kids some ice cream he came across a domestic dispute and ended up getting shot. With some reluctance, Jerry is summoned to the funeral. Although he always treated Jerry with respect and compassion, Brian's wife and friends questioned the relationship. For someone like Brian, hanging out with a junkie - lifelong pal or not - was just not the thing to be doing. But Brian and Jerry had been pals since childhood, and Brian was the only person in the world who never gave up on Jerry. After Brian's death, Audrey needs a project. She tries fixing up the house, but decides that fixing up Jerry would be a better idea. Audrey is pretty fried emotionally, Jerry is pretty fried physically, and over the course of a few weeks, they give each other the support that they both need. Turns out that Jerry the junkie is better equipped to deal with things than Audrey is. He overcomes his addiction, cleans himself up, becomes a father figure to the kids, and does his noble best to resist poking Audrey (if out of respect to Brian). Audrey, on the other hand, is angry, exhausted, resentful of Jerry's bonding with her kids, and she basically becomes rather difficult to be around. Helping Jerry through a relapse is just what she needs to turn herself around and make her human again. With the aid of a cute and perky fellow junkie who has the hots for Jerry (a believably rough looking Alison Lohman), everyone (except Brian) lives happily ever after. "Things We Lost in the Fire" is Benicio's movie all the way. He has taken everything he learned playing other junkies in films like Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998), added a decade of further acting experience to that, and turned in a layered and believable performance. Berry is adequate, Duchovny is reliable but his role is small, and the kids are predictably too cute for our own good (although one of them has a highly coveted vintage 1977 Star Wars lunch box that inspires a bit of dialogue that would make Kevin Smith jealous). Overall, the film juxtaposes parallel recoveries - from addiction and from grief - rather nicely, but it also teeters between cloying mawkishness and effective drama. Mostly due to Benicio, the picture ultimately comes out on the effective drama side of that fence, but only just.
Video
"Things We Lost in the Fire" is presented in the 2.351 theatrical widescreen aspect ratio, enhanced for widescreen televisions. Running time is 1:58:02, divided into 17 chapters. I can do without the shaky documentary-style camerawork and the jumpy cuts that dominate the film visually. That said, there is a deeply saturated palette of colors here with deep blacks that look very nice on a home theater setup. The print is clean with no apparent damage; compression artifacts and edge enhancement are occasionally visible but rather minimal and not distracting.
Audio
Audio options for the movie are English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish and French language tracks, with subtitles in the same three languages. Dialogue is the predominant force in the mix on this film. Intelligibility is never a problem. A forgettable music score is suitably low in the mix, but is occasionally brought to the fore when called for. Tracks by Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, and The Velvet Underground are appropriate source music heard during Jerry's heroin binges.
Extras
Paramount has released this film with a featurette, a collection of deleted scenes, the original theatrical trailer plus a collection of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. "A Discussion About Things We Lost in the Fire" is a featurette running for 20 minutes 22 seconds and is your basic production EPK, consisting on interviews with the cast and production team, all intercut with scenes from the picture. 7 deleted Scenes include: - "Neal Does 'Mumsie' for Dory" runs for 1 minute 5 seconds; Uncle Neal does a funny impression. - "Dwayne OD'd" runs for 1 minute 49 seconds; While at work, Jerry gets the news that his friend is dead. - "Howard Tests Jerry" runs for 33 seconds; While jogging, Jerry is able to prove that he is learning. - "Jerry Makes Breakfast" runs for 55 seconds; Jerry and the two little girls eat breakfast. - "It All Comes Down To the Finish" runs for 2 minutes 23 seconds; Audrey and Jerry talk in her woodworking shop. - "Family Breakfast" runs for 1 minute 3 seconds; The little girls bicker as the adults look on. - "Audrey Gives Jerry the Cupboard" runs for 1 minute 32 seconds; Her furniture is done, she gifts it to him. The film's original theatrical trailer is also included on this disc and runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds. The bonus features wrap up with a series of bonus trailers for: - "Into the Wild" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "Shine a Light" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "Beowulf" which runs for 2 minutes 9 seconds. - "Margot at the Wedding" which runs for 2 minutes 32 seconds. - "The Kite Runner" which runs for 1 minutes 57 seconds.
Overall
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