An Unfinished Life

An Unfinished Life tells the story of Einar Gilkyson, an old Iowa cowboy taking care of her lifelong friend Mitch who was attacked by a bear a year old. At the same time we have his daughter in-law Jean, who leaves her home with her young daughter Griff and goes to Iowa to stay with Einar after her boyfriend beats her up once again. Einar does not welcome them, as he still blames Jean for the death of his son (Jean's husband), who died a decade ago in a car accident. Jean was driving.

Lasse Hallstrom (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Cider House Rules, Chocolat) directs this drama about anger and forgiveness, and gets great performances for his actors, and the bear too. Einar is played by Robert Redford and the story focuses on him for the most part. He gives a great performance though having in mind that this movie is pretty much Oscar bait, I think he's missing that one great scene needed to get a nomination. He had a chance though, in one of many scenes in which he visits his son's grave, but there was none of those beloved tears the Academy loves. Great performance still, specially in all the scenes he has with Jennifer Lopez who plays Jean. You can see the anger in his face and how much hate he has towards her.

Lopez is really good too. Her part sounds a lot like her Enough role without the training and fighting but is not like that. She gets second billing in the movie so I'm thinking her screen time was a little bit reduced since the film was done 2 years ago (it was delayed because of the Weinstein's departure from Miramax and all that). Everything made it sound like it was more of an ensemble drama but Redford gets most of the story, and I'm pretty sure even Morgan Freeman, who plays Mitch, has more screen time that Lopez. Still, she's really good here.

Freeman is the usual excellence, and when I say usual I also mean that his part is a lot like all his previous performances in which he plays the old wise best friend or mentor, but there's nobody who can do it better than him so no problem there. I would expect an Oscar nomination but since he won last year I don't think he'll get it.
Besides the always great advises, he has one excellent scene in which he finally faces the bear that attacked him. Mitch is all wounded in the face and back, and needs help to walk, get clean, and specially get his daily medicine shots.

Then there's Becca Gardner who plays the young Griff. She started a little weak I thought but by the time she meets her grandfather and Mitch she gets really good and gives a fine performance with a couple of very great emotional scenes.
Rounding the cast are Damian Lewis who plays Gary, Jean's boyfriend; Josh Lucas who plays the local Sheriff Crane; and Camryn Manheim who plays Nina, the owner of the local diner who gives Jean a job waiting tables there. Manheim has one great scene with Lopez that could've give her an Oscar nom alone if her character wasn't so small.

Overall, I think for it to play big this awards season, it needs a lot more work in the emotional department though that didn't keep me from enjoying the movie a lot. An Unfinished Life is a great movie with a simple story, brilliant acting and a great bear.