An
Unfinished Life would be a slightly above average little indie character study
- if not for 4 words - Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman. Redford truly steals
this show - reasserting his thespian status, and Freeman is dead-on as the narrating
conscience of the film. (think Million Dollar Baby) and then stop thinking because
there are a dozen more all the way back to Shawshank. Much like Paul Newman’s
“Sully” in Nobody’s Fool - Redford’s Einar (eye-ner) Gylkison
is pretty much a gruff recluse, the victim of too many bad breaks - but still
the kind of guy everybody secretly admires, with his hard-boiled, down-on-his-luck
cowboy charm.
Celebrated
director of such character-driven faire, Lasse Hallstrom is at the helm and demonstrates
the good sense to just turn on the camera and let this top-notch cast do most
of the work. The script from husband and wife team Mark and Virginia Korus Spragg
is solid and big hearted, if not a bit hackneyed - but proves more than enough
for this veteran cast to sink their teeth into. There are a few analogies that
could have been thinned down and you couldn’t point to anything terribly
original about this tale of beat-up misfits who manage to help each other make
the best of things. The kind of story Richard Russo or John Irving might take
a crack at if they weren't tethered to Maine and upstate New York.
The
film gets it’s title from an inscription on the headstone of Einar’s
long deceased son - but actually we begin in Ohio where Jean (J-Lo) and 11 year
old daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) are on the run from Jean’s latest abusive
asshole of a boyfriend (Damion Lewis.) J. Lo has taken on several roles (Enough
leaps to mind) where she’s had to sport a shiner, and I think it’s about
time that Hollywood realized that she looks absolutely gorgeous black-eye or no
black-eye. Growing ever low on options the two refugees hop a bus to Wyoming in
hopes of finding temporary shelter at the home of her long-since-estranged Father-In-Law
Einar. 12 years ago a car accident forever altered their lives - Einar suffered
the loss of his beloved and only son, Griff, whom also happened to be Jean’s
husband and father of her unborn daughter. The resultant falling out between the
two, has left us a dozen years down the road with (the still bitter) Einar having
no idea that he has a Grand-daughter, and the Grand-daughter (Griff) having no
idea that she has a living Grandfather - who happens to be a fascinating old coot
of reformed alcoholic cowboy. They live on a ranch with more cats than cattle,
(by selling the livestock Einar was able to keep the property, which is also home
to (Mitch) an ailing Morgan Freeman. Right away we learn that Freeman requires
a daily shot of Morphine - due, as we later learn, to an encounter with a Grizzly
Bear - whom still roams the country side and toward whom Mitch holds not a single
hard feeling. One of the analogies that could have used some thinning, but one
of the plot points that holds one of the more juicy reveals in the film - so I’ll
leave it at that.
In
any case when Jean shows up one fine Wyoming afternoon, it becomes obvious that
there is little to no love lost between the two - but Jean is packing a powerful
trump card in the form of a Granddaughter with the same nickname as the deceased
father she never met. Young Becca does serviceable work as the pawn in this war
of old wounds - she’s no Alison Lohman, but she gets the job done. Much of
the film deals with her discovery. Discovery of a world unlike the urban hell-holes
she’s grown up in, discovery of a Grandfather she didn’t know she had,
as well as a bond that forms between herself and Mitch. Of course the great arc
of character development must take place between Einar and Jean. During one verbal
exchange he kicks her off the place and she finds open arms in the form of one
of her fellow waitresses, Cameryn Manheim. She also develops a love interest in
local sheriff Josh Lucas.
Obviously
this is not a plot-driven film (about the only event worth mentioning is the fact
that Jean’s abusive ex-boyfriend eventually shows up). Still the film never
sags, because the acting is so good that you really become invested in the fate
of each character (including the bear). You really want to see Einar and Jean
come to some kind of forgiveness and acceptance, it wouldn’t hurt a bit if
Jean and the Sheriff get their cuffs tangled, you want to see that creepy ex-boyfriend
get roughed-up on his way the hell outta town - and while you’re hoping why
not some sort of reconciliation between Mitch and the bear. I’ve tiptoed
across the few little reveals that there are - they don’t add up to much
but they do enrich this little gem of a film, that just happens to feature the
most natural performance Robert Redford’s given us in a coon’s age.
