The Lovely Bones
This is literally the return of the King. Peter Jackson is back to what he does best, directing movies. Peter Jackson’s project with Dreamworks on the movie adaptation of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones is finally coming to the Philippines. It is the magnificent and heart – warming little story of the young Susie Salmon, who is raped and murdered and while in Heaven (or the In-between Heaven, as Peter Jackson puts it), watches her family, her loved ones come to terms from her passing and how their lives play out in front of her, including her rapist’s life. If you have read the novel, you would know that when it comes to telling a story that happens above Earth, but is surely grounded in reality, there is no one better than Peter Jackson to turn to for a spectacular narration. It also helps when you have Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer on behalf of DreamWorks.
Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon seems to be a casting coup as far as the character is concerned, because if you are one of those who have read and loved the novel, Ronan is exactly how you would have imagined her in your minds eye. And she doesn’t disappoint in the talent department either. For, if you have watched Atonement (2007), you could not help but admire the screen presence and the natural grace that Ronan exudes on screen. If you have been nominated 13 times for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress combined, for a single movie, at the age of 13, you have to be nothing short of brilliant. So, it is this combination of Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Saoirse Ronan that is bringing The Lovely Bones to life on screen.
Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg play Abigail and Jack Salmon, Susie’s parents who are devastated when their daughter is murdered. Susan Sarandon plays Grandma Lynn who desperately tries to hold together the shattered family. And Stanley Tucci plays George Harvey, the neighbour who lures Susie into a secret hideaway and then rapes and murders her as she is on her way home. These magnificent actors round off the brilliant cast of professional/commercial talent and star power that would have you in its bitter sweet grip as the film releases this coming February.
The Lovely Bones is released and distributed by United International Pictures thru Solar Entertainment Corp. In Cinemas 17 February 2010 (Wednesday)
MTRCB Rating: PG-13