Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole is based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning by David Lindsay-Abaire and comes prestige packed with stars Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, as well as a prim, awards bound mid-December release date.  The material, about the grief over a loss of a child, sounds grim and depressing, but there is a rooting factor that fascinates me here: director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Shortbus), whose proven a true and passionate (if polarizing) filmmaker whose already established a sure hand in transferring a play to screen.  Of course Rabbit Hole is far more conventional story, and certainly a big oppurtunity for Mitchell to potentially play to a larger more mainstream crowd.

I desperately hope that the treat here is Kidman, whose movie star trajectory seems to have fizzled recently, sadly.  Her gift is usually at its strongest working with strong, commanding auteurs, and purely on a selfish level, I'd love to marvel at a performance of hers again.  Her undeniable peak was 2001-2004, with the amazing, enriching roles in Moulin Rouge!, The Others, The Hours, Dogville and Birth.  The mistake, or misrepresentation of Kidman is that at her classic best has never been particularly commercial; she's a muse, not a movie star.  The second half of the last decade saw more of movie star Kidman, which always feels desperate and unfocused; Margot at the Wedding (2007) was a welcome, if often disparaging and little seen, glimpse of the mercurial actress I enjoy.

Anna in deep thought.