Muddled and Unengaging: Things We Lost in the Fire

Things We Lost in the Fire
Directed by Susanne Bier
Released October 19, 2007

This is Susanne Bier's follow-up to the amazing "After the Wedding"? It is a good thing I did not know that going in because I might have been even more disappointed. The story itself is told out of sequence and for no good reason. The film is full of distracting close-ups and pointless cuts in the middle of scenes. I am slowly realizing that Halle Berry is just not a great actress. Her Oscar for "Monster's Ball" was by no means deserved, especially in that year, but after seeing this performance, it is clear that she lacks something in all of her portrayals. Benicio Del Toro, who is an amazing actor ("The Usual Suspects", "Traffic", "21 Grams"), has a meager role and his efforts do not show through enough. This lengthy drama is made to seem even more trivial by its poor and irrelevant title.

C-