The Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan, 1997)

[kaytee]

Egoyan's award winning and most celebrated movie about a town which is grieving the death of several children in a bus accident and how a lawyer tries to benefit from the tragedy.

Ian Holm plays the lawyer who is visiting the town where a school bus accident claims lives of children, his motive is clear - make some money when people are not in their senses and are angry and want revenge. The families in the town are clueless on what they should do, they are a tight knit town where everyone know each other but they are angry at losing their children, some willing to profit off the law suit and some just wanting plain revenge including Sarah Polley's character.

The story is told in a non linear fashion where we see how the people of the town lived before and after the accident, at the same time we get to see why is Ian Holm's character there. He too is angry with not having being able to raise his daughter the way he would like and how he has lost control over his daughter.

All this grief is shown very subtly and not blown out of proportion with high melodramatic scenes, the sorrow of the people is toned down wherein they have accepted the fate of their children. The acting is top notch all around but it is the tone and pace with which the movie is told that make it unforgettable.

4/5

[ozzylogic]

This is one of those movies that made me doze off. I'm not sure why.

[fizz]

A tempered, complex film with many layers and some outstanding performances (both Holm and Polley). The films best moments are its flashback scenes - one of the accident, horrific in its matter of fact certainty and the other to a seminal moment with the daughter of Holm's character where she nearly died. Arguably Egoyan's best film and one of the best films of the 90's. The outstanding morose soundtrack is almost exclusively sung by Polley, who would later go on to become an acclaimed director herself (being a true polymath).

[kaytee]

I loved the scene on the plane where he is talking to his daughters friend telling her about the incident with his daughter. Gave me the chills...

[fizz]

I loved the scene on the plane where he is talking to his daughters friend telling her about the incident with his daughter. Gave me the chills...

That's the scene I was talking about. It's a haunting moment. Two others that stand out - the opening in the car wash and the one line of dialogue I will never forget - "You'd make a good poker player, kid." A truly stunning masterpiece in my book.

[animatedude]

i remember i saw this years ago and i was like really? is this the Sweet Hereafter that won zillion of awards...i didn't care for it and i was never moved by it at all maybe because i'm used to thrillers with one kid dying in the first 10 min and the rest of the movie his family is mourning his death...but this movie is a bus full of kids which makes it sound like a South Park episode that it's hard to believe or relate to..

[X.]

THE ADJUSTER is possibly the best Egoyan film yet. Very closely followed by EXOTICA.

[fizz]

THE ADJUSTER is possibly the best Egoyan film yet. Very closely followed by EXOTICA.

Not seen The Adjuster, but Exotica is classy, though I still hold this in higher regard.