Grace Is Gone
Release Date:
December 7, 2007
Limited release
Movie of the Day for Thursday, October 18, 2007
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On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 129/214 |
Max Braden |
Slow, and a downer. |
As the Iraq war looms onward, the Bush administration continues to enforce Pentagon policy that bans media coverage of America's war dead returning to U.S. soil. John Cusack said the policy - and Bush's strict enforcement - is "one of the most shameful, disgraceful, cowardly political acts that [he has] seen in [his] lifetime."
So, what is an actor to do? Well, for starters, he can star in a film that demonstrates what happens when the coffins hit close to home. For Cusack, that film is Grace is Gone.
In the feature, Cusack's character, Stanley, learns that his wife, Grace, is killed in service in Iraq. Instead of informing his two daughters about their mother's death, the father delays the news and takes them on a road trip. Stanley, a former military man himself, then uses the trip to come to terms with the devastating blow and also the war.
The small, independent film, which won the Audience Award for Drama at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, was originally scheduled for a Fall 2007 distribution by The Weinstein Company. However, soon after Weinstein picked it up, the company pushed its release back to land possible Oscar nominations.
James C. Strouse, who penned Grace is Gone, also is making his directorial debut with the release. His other lone writing credit is the 2005 film Lonesome Jim, a drama directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler. The 91-minute feature was even more successful than Grace is Gone at Sundance, earning the Grand Jury Prize for Drama. (Eric Hughes/BOP)
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