Directed by David Frankel (Hope Springs; Marley & Me; The Devil Wears Prada) and starring Will Smith (Men in Black; The Pursuit of Happyness; Ali; Concussion; Independence Day), Edward Norton (Birdman; Fight club; The Illusionist; The Grand Budapest Hotel; the Bourne Legacy), Kate Winslet (Titanic; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Revolutionary Road; Steve Jobs; Finding Neverland), Helen Mirren (The Queen; The Madness of King George; Elizabeth I; Eye in the Sky; Woman in Gold; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Michael Peña (The Martian; End of Watch; Ant Man; Tower Heist; The Lincoln Lawyer), Keira Knightley (Bnd it Like BEckham; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit; Anna Karenina; Pride & Prejudice), Naomie Harris (Skyfall; Spectre; Moonlight; Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; Our Kind of Traitor).
Drama, 94 mins, 6+
This is a story about grief, about one's friends and colleagues rallying around and trying to help. It is not at all morbid nor depressing, but it is emotional.
Howard (Will Smith) is a highly-successful advertising executive and owns 60% of his firm. However, his life spirals out of control when he loses his 6 year-old daughter to a rare cancer. He loses all hope and retires into himself, hardly communicating with anyone, and brooding, sometimes over cascading dominoes. His colleagues Whit (Edward Norton), Claire (Kate Winslet) and Simon (Michael Peña) fear for the future of the company which starts to lose accounts which used to be handled by Howard.
When Howard starts to write letters, to Love, Time and Death, Whit, Claire and Simon enlist the help of three actors, Brigitte (Helen Mirren), Amy (Keira Knightley) and Raffi (Jacob Latimore) to try and help him. Around this time, Howard comes across a self-help group, led by Madeleine (Naomie Harris), of people who have lost children, but cannot bring himself to talk about his daughter and her passing.
However, he eventually starts to see how the answers to his letters, and the compassion shown by Madeleine, can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.
Set over Christmas, this is really just a backdrop to the story in which the eight characters all develop in the own way. It is neither cheesy nor sentimental; it does, though, show a real human being suffering an invisible burden with others trying to break down the barriers that have sprung up, trying to connect with the real person and bring them out of their misery and depression.
Thought-provoking and very well done.
