The Lovely Bones

I have been watching movies like crazy these days. Almost every other day I watch one. Most of them are mediocre, and made without a sense of belonging, but some of them are outstanding, and then a few of them are exceptional.

Cinema is a form of art. Unfortunately there are only a few gifted people who understand this. Peter Jackson is one of them. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a class act. Even an old classic like King Kong was recreated by him in a very sensible manner. In my opinion this movie called The Lovely Bones stands apart. It’s a different genre for him, but he proved that challenges are opportunities for excellence.

Everything is so subtle, so suave yet so abstract in his renderings. It’s like watching wallpaper on celluloid. In this age of technology it’s pertinent that something like wallpaper represents art. Art is a relative thing, but it needs an eye of the beholder. The eye that can capture not only what’s displayed but can also fathom the feelings that went into creating it.

I was reluctant about this movie initially. People really didn’t think highly of this. Later on I read that it’s about some nasty killer, and a girl who was murdered in her teens. It seemed to me as a plot of some routine, ordinary movie – and it is a very routine, ordinary plot. But, I am not dancing about the plot anyways. What’s overwhelming is the fact that it’s been portrayed in way that it transforms into a piece of art. Any lesser director could have killed the movie and it would have been like a disposed off low grade offering. But, I was in for a surprise.

The narrative is by a girl who has been murdered by her neighbor. It starts with the girl recalling her childhood when she pondered about a lonesome penguin in a snow-globe. Her father used to tell her that it has a good life, and he shook the globe to scatter the snow all around the penguin. The fact that her father and her entire family loved her so much is also a pivotal part of the storytelling.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the movie. You will be amazed to see the story unfold, and you will be blown away by the sheer brilliance of director’s imagination. Before I forget, I must mention that this movie was based on a novel by the same name. I can imagine that most of the sequences would have been hand crafted by the writer, but it takes sheer brilliance to portray it on screen with the same amount of imagination and craftsmanship.