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Grace Is Gone (2007) More at IMDbPro »

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37 comments in total

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42 out of 52 people found the following comment useful :-
John Cusack takes the cake, 17 October 2007

Author: erin_gafford from United States

John Cusack was excellent in this role. I saw a side of him that I never expected possible. His characters are usually intelligent and witty with sarcastic undertones, but this film shows a side of his versatility that has never surfaced before. He plays a father of two that is struggling to find a common ground. His military background leaves little commonality between himself and his daughters. The devastating loss of his wife, and the mother of his children force this character in a place that few have ever been. After an entire childhood of emotional absents, his children finally see the softer side of their father as he struggles to tell them of the untimely death of their mother. It was truly an emotional roller coaster.

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42 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Sense of Loss, 21 October 2007

Author: fruitjunk from United States

I get the feeling that people who do not like this movie wanted some large seen where John Cusack's character tells what he is thinking. I'm confused at this. If we wanted to watch movies where characters laid out their thoughts verbatim we wouldn't have an opportunity to infer our own emotions on the situation. I would have been upset if this filmed decided to tackle the issue of war instead of the issue of how modern loss can effect us. This is a film about being put on pause. When we are shaken out of our sense of normalcy how do we cope. In this case, how do you explain the loss you cannot comprehend to your children. I think that this film is powerful in it's absent of the affectation of the outside world. You have a man who insulates himself from the events and in that case you have something a lot more honest. If the film had chosen to attack those issues i think the depth of loss would have been shattered. This isn't an anti-war nor pro-war film. I think that if you go in expecting that you will dislike immensely. This is a film about normalcy and our failure to cope. I think it works. I think wanting it to do something it isn't trying to do is an incorrect way to view this film.

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28 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
A Graceful Journey, 17 December 2007

Author: Willemite from United States

I found the film to be a very sensitive, low-key portrayal of a father having to learn to communicate with his children after his soldier wife is killed in Iraq. It is not political. Cusack's character is an uncritical believer in authority, while his opposite number is shown as an immature oppositionist, lacking grounding in the real world. In their political discussion, both make valid points but neither view is the focus of the film. This is a family tale, with the twist that it is a guy having to cope with losing a soldier spouse, not a woman. Coping here means telling his children that their mother is gone, and his struggle is not exactly new ground. Kramer vs Kramer is the obvious example of a father learning how to cope with fatherhood. Grace, however, shows a pretty decently coping Dad from the git-go. His struggle is more focused. Unable to bear telling his daughters the bad news, and unable to face it himself, he takes them on a fantasy trip to a Disneyworld stand-in, driving from Minnesota to Florida. As with most road trips this is a journey of discovery for him and particularly for his older, 12-year-old daughter. Ultimately, he finds the voice in which to speak the painful words. Cusack is masterful in his portrayal of the struggling widower. The young actresses playing his daughters are completely convincing. One thing that stands out is the minimalist Clint Eastwood score. It supports the sorrowful tale and seems almost to be trying to sooth the grieving father. This is not a cheery, feel good flick in which everyone goes home with a smile on, but it is a satisfying film that offers a realistic portrayal of regular people coping with a very harsh reality.

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33 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Movie, 5 September 2007
Author: NevTaylor from New Hampshire

I absolutely loved this movie, I thought it was a very touching story that covers a very hard topic. John Cusak, Allessandro Nivola and the two little girls were all fantastic in the movie. It is such a simple story, but it hits home in a very big way. This is a movie that should be seen by everyone. It has so many human elements that I believe will make it a very important film for many years to come. It does not take a political stance. It is about life. The loss of life, and the effects of war. It does not force you to take a political stance, just a look at your own humanity and how you might deal with the tragic loss of a loved one. I am the first person to go and see a high budget action film and turn my brain off to enjoy, but some times its nice to leave your brain on in a movie.

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23 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: Grace is Gone, 27 March 2008

Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

John Cusack is one of the character actors I admire. And in Grace is Gone, it centers upon his ability to bring you into his character's world. He really transformed himself into the role of Stanley Philipps with his thick glasses, walking with an instep, and that little hunch and a paunch, and delivers probably one of his finer touches in disappearing into a character that's so everyday average joe. He's a salaryman earning his keep while watching over his two girls while Mrs Grace Philipps (Dana Lynne Gilhooley) is a career soldier who gets her tour of duty in Iraq.

The crux of the entire story laid on the premise of Stanley trying to find the appropriate moment to tell his children about the unfortunate demise of their mother, while at the same time fighting hard to accept the bitter truth that the woman he loves is gone. More so of course when it is revealed later some things that can no longer be reversed in time, which makes it all the more sad, and regrettable.

But we also learn more about Stanley through the eyes of his children, when they throw the occasional tantrum, or have issues to deal with. Shelan O'Keefe as Heidi the older daughter, is a remarkable actress, lending some gravitas to her role when it called for it, and holds her own opposite Cusack very well. Gracie Bednarczyk as younger daughter Dawn I guess was just being herself, injecting much needed effervescence to counter the heavy drama that circulates throughout the movie.

Besides some expected and really moving scenes in the movie, some from plot devices, while others from the characters themselves, writer-director James C. Strouse also managed to sneak in a comment or two about War and Truth, which is what we make it up to be, most of the time. Alessandro Nivola also turned in a rather short but nice performance behind that heavily bearded appearance as the brother of Stanley and the children's uncle.

If I need another plus point to recommend Grace is Gone, then it will be the score by Clint Eastwood (yes, what a surprise when the end credits rolled), punctuating the story neatly when it called for it. All in all, a story without any major plot twists (since the title already said it all), simple yet effective, and hinged very much on excellent acting to bring the characters to life.

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35 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
Melodrama, 8 March 2007

Author: McGonigle from bean world, massachusetts

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie won the Audience Award for dramatic film at Sundance 2007 (and a screen writing award), but I found it to be the most disappointing and shallow of the films I saw at the festival. John Cusack gives a great performance as Stanley, a father who's trying to figure out how to tell his two daughters (8 and 12) that their mother has been killed in the Iraq War. The movie is a big-time tearjerker, but aside from the broad-stroke melodrama, I found it to be emotionally vacant.

We're never given any real indication of what's going on in Stanley's head. At one point, his hippie dropout brother (Stanley is a conservative war supporter) provides some helpful exposition about Cusack and his late wife, but the writer/director never seems to have heard of the "show, don't tell" rule. The only concrete demonstrations of Stanley's distress we ever get are a series of shots of him staring into space. We never find out if Stanley's political beliefs have been challenged (or strengthened) by his experience, or whether his belief that his wife died fighting a just cause made it any easier (or harder) to cope with his loss.

In fact, the movie seems to have decided to portray Stanley's emotional confusion by not having him express any emotion at all, and the only insight we gather is that it's really, really, really, really, really hard to tell your children that their mother has died.

And in the end, any tears generated are not due to any particular skill in writing or directing, but simply because of the audience's reaction to how horrible it is for ANY parent to have to tell their young children that their other parent has died. To me, that's a cheat; the movie doesn't provide any sort of insight into Stanley's feelings and relies on the audience to provide all the emotion.

Cusack supplies a fine performance with the limited material he's been given (as do the two daughters), but this movie doesn't supply much else besides cheap tears. Watch for it to become a monster hit and pick up a basket of Oscar nominations.

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Sad, Beautiful, Brilliant- "Grace" Remains With the Viewer, 31 May 2008

Author: asam3122 from United States

"Grace is Gone" is a very sad, but important film. Until I read about it on IMDb, I had no idea that it was being made. Very subtley, it slipped in and out of theaters. Finally, I found it at Blockbuster and picked it up to watch with my family. At the end, my family remarked on how sad the movie is. They are very right with this comment. In fact, this may be one of the saddest, but beautiful films I've ever seen. It takes a situation that every parent may face and turns it into a beautiful story about family and love.

Stanley Phillips is a dad taking care of his two daughters while their wife and mother, Grace, is in Iraq in the Army. When the news comes one day that Grace has been killed overseas, Stanley is left alone and clueless as to how to tell his daughters that their mother is not coming home. As a way of avoiding the conversation, Stanley takes the girls on a trip to Enchanted Gardens, an amusement park that looks similar to Disney World.

The plot, with Clint Eastwood's beautiful score and James Strouse's great writing and directing, brings the viewer a subtle and beautiful film. "Grace is Gone" definitely stays with the viewer.

9/10

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27 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
A good film that could have been great., 6 August 2007

Author: Jeff Beachnau (beachna9@msu.edu) from Omena, Michigan

I saw this at the Traverse City Film Festival.

Grace is Gone stars John Cusack as a husband whose wife has just been killed in Iraq. He doesn't have the courage to tell his two young daughters that their mother has died, so instead he decides to take them on a road trip, perhaps not to just make it easier on the girls but to make it easier for himself.

This film was pretty good but I felt it was flat at parts and some tears were forced. It didn't have as much emotion as I thought it would have. John Cusack does a great job acting in the film, but most of the time his character is just trying to hide the sadness from his daughters. Some scenes drag on and others don't seem to really fit in with the rest of the story.

My favorite scene in the film takes place in a store and involves the younger daughter wandering off on her own. The scene is so subtle and the drama isn't as obvious as other parts in the film, but it's quite an emotional scene. I wish the rest of the film had moments like that.

Politics aren't really discussed much in the film, at least not as much as I thought there was going to be. However, when it does, it goes with the typical cliché of family members differing in beliefs and trying to get their own point across. People will probably be interested in this film because of the subject matter and the modern storyline, but apart from the cause of death of the wife, the war is never really mentioned. In a way, that's why this film doesn't work at times. Apart from the one scene with his anti-war brother, Cusack's character never gets a chance to express his emotions and regrets because he's always with his children.

Nonetheless, as a film about a father trying to reveal to his children the death of their mother, it's a good film. But if you're seeing the film because it involves the war in Iraq, you'll be disappointed because the war is hardly mentioned.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
A fine tribute to those who die in war and those left to mourn., 7 August 2008

Author: seadevil-1 from Canada

This is a moving story of a man whose wife, a soldier, is killed in Iraq, and the almost unbearable task placed on him to tell his two daughters, aged 9 and 12, the terrible news. John Cusack played the part of the of the husband of the dead wife, and father of the girls, superbly. I tried to put myself in his position, having to break the news of their mother's death to the two youngsters, and it almost brought me to tears, as the end of the movie actually did.

This movie is a fitting tribute to the young Americans who fight and sometimes die for the country and for the families of those who wait for their return; when sometimes the waiting is in vain.

Whether the war is a just or unjust war or whether it's useless debacle, young men and women die whilst fulfilling what is, in their mind, their duty. The validity of the war detracts nothing from their heroism.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Extraordinary and healing examination of loss!, 14 May 2008

Author: sindrebergman from Norway

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Here you've got that kind of movie that only needs it's heartwarming script and standout performances to be as great as it is. Done with a brilliant simplicity the director creates a "bigger than life" story that plays out as a moody road-movie consisting of only three important characters. A father learns about his wife's death and decides to keep it a secret from his two daughters. He takes them on a road-trip where they get their wishes, but as the trip goes on the eldest daughter realizes that her father is hiding something from them. The journey that seems to be an escape from reality soon reveals it self as a man's way of coming to terms with his loss and finding the courage to tell his kids that their mum is gone.

This authentic tale is strengthened by the haunting musical score and John Cusacks emotional performance.

My heart cried and i could feel the tears behind my eyes as i watched this magnificent film.

"Grace Is Gone" reaches the sky, and all you need to appreciate this film is a open heart.

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