“MOONLIGHT MILE” DEFTLY combines sentimentality with soft, well-placed touches of humor, resulting in an uplifting film that explores the souls of three very different people.
Set in a quaint, small town in Massachusetts, during the early 1970’s, the movie has a musical backdrop of vibrant songs from that era, including the Rolling Stones’ ballad “Moonlight Mile.”
The movie features two acting greats, Susan Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman, along with young Jake Gyllenhaal, who already seems to have made a name for himself with his recent roles in “The Good Girl” and “Lovely and Amazing.”
JoJo and Ben Floss (played by Sarandon and Hoffman) find themselves coping with the tragic murder of their only daughter Diana, who was engaged to Joe Nast (played by Gyllenhaal). Sarandon brings her vitality to the screen and approaches the script with a sense of truth, genuinely unmasking JoJo Floss’s spunky wit. Meanwhile, Hoffman’s character Ben struggles with his pain differently-he tries to forget everything by pragmatically jumping back into the world of commercial real estate.
Though the parents have to deal with the most significant loss, “Moonlight Mile” strangely revolves around Joe’s character. We follow Joe from the morning of the funeral procession to intimate conversations with others to the courtroom proceedings.
Torn apart by his inclination to help Diana’s parents to fill the void in their lives and his desire to move on, the charmingly quiet Joe lingers in town, trying to figure out his own future. Gyllenhaal nicely assumes the role of the vulnerable Joe, who awkwardly lives under the same roof as the Flosses and even joins Ben’s real estate business.
Director Brad Silberling, who also wrote the screenplay, partially based this story on the real life murder of his actress girlfriend by a stalker over ten years ago.
“After a sudden, violent loss, you feel a tremendous need to do something,” Silberling said recently, “Not only to keep your sanity but also out of an almost subconscious sense that if you just do everything right, somehow the person you’ve lost is going to walk back in the door.”
By turning the nightmarish story of a random killing into a movie full of touching, comical and candid moments, Silberling delicately broaches a harsh subject. Still, the movie does have its sappy moments, where you can see Silberling clearly forcing in trite, lump-in-your-throat scenes.
This drama also contains its share of romance, with Joe falling for local girl Bertie, a postal worker/barkeep who coincidentally happens to understand exactly what Joe is going through. Played by Ellen Pompeo (whose face looks oh-so-similar to that of Renee Zellweger), Bertie clings onto the hope that her boyfriend, lost in Vietnam during the war, is still alive. But, as Joe begins to move past Diana’s death, Bertie slowly moves on as well.
“Moonlight Mile” closes on too hopeful a note, as it conveniently ties up all the loose ends in the complicated lives of these people.
Though it is meant to uplift in an almost therapeutic way with the characters’ forgiving each other and everyone resuming normality, the ending seems too much like a fairytale. Still, the movie wonderfully showcases characters searching for the truth within their souls.
Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and brief strong language.
