Movie: Things We Lost in the Fire

Jerry Sunborne(Benicio Del Toro) and Steven Burke(David Duchovny) are friends from second grade. Jerry has become a drug addict while Steven has become a successful developer. Steven is now married to Audrey(Halle Berry) and they have two kids, Harper and Dory. Steven still believes in Jerry and visits him on a regular basis. But, Audrey does not approve of this friendship.

When Steven gets killed in a freak shoot out, Audrey invites Jerry for the funeral. After the funeral, Audrey asks Jerry to move in her house. Jerry befriends the kids and the neighbor. Slowly, Audrey and Jerry struggle to piece their life together.

Susanne Bier directs this drama. She starts the movie with the funeral and gives us the background information in short flashbacks. She also uses shaky camera without losing focus on the performance of the lead actors.

The movie works because of performance of Benicio Del Toro and Halle Berry. Benicio Del Toro is excellent as the drug addict who is struggling to recover. He uses his entire body – wandering eyes, biting lips, shrugging shoulders - to show restlessness associated with the character. Halle Berry is good as the wife who is coping with loss and feeling conflicted about increasing influence of Jerry on her kids.

Rating: ***

Genre: Drama

Picture Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies

Tags: Movies,Things We Lost in the Fire,Benicio Del Toro,David Duchovny,Halle Berry,Susanne Bier,Drama