The Door in the Floor

Excellent movie! I'd heard great things about it, but never saw it in the theatre so just caught it on DVD. I wasn't sure I'd like it - sometimes those kinds of family dramas can be too overly sentimental for me, especially when the plot involves grief over a family member's death. But there's something fresh about this film that held my interest. The characters are just a bit too quirky and screwed up for it to feel maudlin or trite. (Credit to John Irving, no doubt.) Jeff Bridges was great. (when did he get so old looking? wasn't Beau the heavier older one and Jeff the cute one?) (I'm showing my age - yikes!) I also liked the actor who played the student, who turns out to be Ben Foster's brother (Claire's long-haired sexually confused ex from Six Feet Under.) He seemed familiar to me, but I think it's because he's also on "life as we know it," a show I've only seen bits of, but I think he might be the kid who's sleeping with his teacher. (Obviously he's becoming typecast.)

I haven't read "A Widow for a Year," the novel this film is based on, but now I want to. Especially as the movie is only part of the book, so there's a lot more to enjoy.