Description: Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Academy Award® winners Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino deliver riveting performances in the gripping thriller Reservation Road. A powerful human story of anger, revenge and great courage, this film takes you on an intense journey that follows two fathers as their families and lives converge after the events of one fateful night. "Suspenseful, emotional and completely engrossing" (Pete Hammond, Maxim), Reservation Road is "a deft, satisfying thriller" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly).
Amazon.com: After grappling with civil war in Some Mother's Son and Hotel Rwanda, Terry George turns to the tranquility of the American suburbs. Based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz, Reservation Road marks a smooth transition into seemingly alien territory. The Northern Irish director first introduces Connecticut professor Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and attorney Dwight (Mark Ruffalo). One night, they end up on the same road; Ethan is returning with his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and kids from a school recital, Dwight and his son are heading home after a baseball game. In an instant, Ethan's boy is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Dwight knows what he's done, but doesn't say a word, as he doesn't want to lose custody of his child. Impatient for justice, Ethan becomes convinced the authorities will never solve the case, so he tries to track down the killer himself. Coincidence builds on coincidence--Dwight's ex-wife (Mira Sorvino) teaches Ethan's daughter (Elle Fanning), and Ethan hires Dwight as his lawyer. Just as the attorney-client relationship forces the two men to work together, the script asks the same of these gifted actors. Fortunately, Phoenix and Ruffalo rise to the occasion. That said, movies about grieving parents can be a tough sell. It remains to be seen whether Reservation Road will benefit from the success of In the Bedroom and Mystic River--or suffer from the onslaught of cinematic grief. At the very least, it allows more light in at the end of its dark journey into the soul. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Reservation Road (click for larger image).
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Grade A Drama
"People keep saying you need to find closure. But there is no closure; there's only acceptance and resignation."
These are the rambling thoughts of a grieving parent and his struggle to live ... Read More
Rating: - Reservation Road
Reservation Road
This DVD is defective. It's counter is off......it starts at the end of the movie and it takes forever to rewind to get to the beginning of the movie......if you go even a second ... Read More
Rating: - I was reviled by this manipulative formulaic tragedy cliche! Groan
I couldn't wait for this film to end but let out a cry of injustice for myself at the upbrupt ending which left the viewer ( me, my partner decided to nap instead of finishing this dreadful film )intentionally ... Read More
Rating: - Stand out performances!
I believe this movie will make any parent cringe. A young boy is killed in a hit and run accident and it shows how the parents deal with the loss and what the man who hits the child goes through.
Rating: - Incredible Performance by Mark Ruffalo; Not so much for the rest
As a father I found this movie almost difficult to watch at times due to its honest and raw portrayal of the loss of a child. Mark Ruffalo turns in a truly incrdible performance I thought and shows a whole new side of ... Read More
- Grade A Drama
- Reservation Road