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Release Date: January 26, 2010
Rating: R
Running Time: 100 minutes
Written, produced and directed by Boaz Yakin (Uptown Girls, Remember the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), this highly acclaimed film boasts a remarkable ensemble cast including Josh Lucas (Sweet Home Alabama, Glory Road), Adam Brody (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Thank You for Smoking, "The O.C."), Jacqueline Bisset (Class, The Deep, Bullitt, "Nip Tuck") and Lukas Haas (Brick, Alpha Dog, Mars Attacks!, Witness). Hailed by The New York Daily News as "Challenging and thoughtful" and The Hollywood Reporter as "Vivid and unsparing", this searing, sexual drama tells the story of a family's dangerous legacy unraveling as a mother's desperate wartime choices haunt the lives and loves of her sons. In 1990's New York, her eldest son (Lucas) finds a way out of his tailspin of one-night stands and scams when he befriends a charming co-worker (Brody). Meanwhile, his brother (Haas) struggles in a compulsive, co-dependent relationship with their mother (Bisset).
The film opens during World War II, as we find out that a a Jewish woman had an affair with a Nazi doctor and then shifts to following the woman and her two sons as adults, trying to shake themselves from this past they are all unfortunately connected to. This is quite a gripping narrative opening as well and the film gets more intriguing as time goes on. Viewers follow both sons, the oldest(Josh Lucas) who has too many one night stands to count until he is befriended by a co-worker (Adam Brody) and the other (Lukas Haas) who still lives at home with mom. With the older brother, no detail is left hidden when showing his sexual partners. As this is clearly a sexual drama, there is excessive nudity so do not take the term "sexual drama" lightly as I did before pressing play. If you cringe at graphic medical shows, this is also definitely not the film for you. My thoughts on this alone...save the disturbing violence for Schindler's List, The Pianist, etc.. and less graphic sexual content to focus on being more emotionally engaging. That being said, though original, daring, dark, and quite gripping...this film is definitely not for everyone. As far as gripping goes, I'm not sure if it is off the bat riveting for the right reasons, what it somewhat aimed to be - a thought provoking look at individuals who are broken in their each way and also broken in the same way as one family. As far as the plot goes, it seems somewhat jumpy in regards to the connecting story lines and the ending is not very pleasant. Though the acting is fabulous, the film is very well directed, and the tone in the sense of the cinematography was quite beautiful. Honestly though, I do not think viewers can really truly appreciate all that this film is until they watch it with the commentary...
Special Features:
Commentary - The commentary is conducted by Writer/director Boaz Yakin and actor Josh Lucas. If you were able to watch Death in Love in its entirety and would like a better understanding of the film, this is definitely the perfect resource. In fact, it would be better to watch the film with the commentary on first, which might seem unusual...but watch the first 15 minutes of this movie and if you feel like it is too odd to handle, start over with the commentary. Along with learning about what went on behind the scenes - how this film came together, viewers will get to know so much more about every character and each scene will be seen in a better light as Yakin provides such clarity to the script at had. If the title of this film went over your head, you will understand clearly after this commentary.
Interviews (11:34) - Writer/director, Boaz Yakin and producers, as well as cast members, Adam Brody, Lukas Haas, Jacqueline Bisset, and Josh Lucas briefly discuss what attracted them to this film, the script and their characters more in depth, the complexity of the subjects in the script, and working on an indie film. Behind the scenes video is shown as the interviews are played out on set though there doesn't seem to be much to take out of the interviews, so it is not a must see feature.
Featurettes (26:18) - There are 5 featurettes, "2nd Unit," "Sex in Death In Love," "Rehearsal," "Sundance Premiere," and "Sundance Q&A session." All of the featurettes are quite interesting, so definitely press "Play All" instead of watching one or two. You'll love it all.
Death in Love is available on DVD & Blu-ray today.
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