Movie Info:
Writer: Allan Loeb
Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny, Alexis Llewellyn, Micah Berry, John Carroll Lynch, Alison Lohman, Robin Weigert, Omar Benson Miller, Paula Newsome
Rating: R
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Info:
Theatrical Release:October 19, 2007
DVD Release Date: March 24, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $14.99
The first time that I watched Things We Lost in the Fire it was very hard for me at first. The star power makes it worth watching, but I had a problem with one particular star being in it. You see, I am not a huge fan of Halle Berry. I rarely watch things that have her in it. I don’t know what it is about her, but the inability to see her character and to only see her bothers me. So, I usually avoid her movies or only watch them in cases like this, where I have to watch.
Now that I have that off of my chest, I have to say that this was probably the best Halle Berry movie I have seen. The supporting cast with David Duchovny and Benicio Del Toro was superb. I liked Things We Lost in the Fire when I first watched it. I thought it was a well written, well acted, and an overall excellent film.
With this in mind, I had to look at the benefits of having this film on Blu-ray and what I’ve concluded is that this film looks nice, but Blu-ray isn’t necessary to enjoy the film. There isn’t a whole lot of added content available from DVD to Blu-ray and the quality is only a little bit better. So, I can’t, in good conscience, recommend that you purchase this film in Blu-ray when you can get it in a nearly as good format on DVD for a much lower price.
My assessment of the Blu-ray version of Things We Lost in the Fire is in no way related to the quality of the actual movie. I really did enjoy this film. The story was good. The cast was solid, providing excellent, well acted portrayals of complex, multidimensional characters. The directing was good enough to make me enjoy a Halle Berry movie, so essentially, I feel all the elements that make a movie good have come together in Things We Lost in the Fire.
My only complaint is that David Duchovny doesn’t have enough screen time. I’ve long been a fan of Duchovny, since he filmed Kalifornia, so I was hoping he had a more prominent role. While his character is significant to the story and plays a prominent role in the telling of it, he doesn’t have a lot of screen time. Of course, when he is on screen, he steals those scenes. This is a minor complaint, especially since I also am a huge fan of Benicio Del Toro, who puts in a standout performance, as well.
The Things We Lost in the Fire Plot
The Burkes, Audrey (Halle Berry) and Brian (David Duchovny) are a happily married couple with two children. The couple has been married 11 years and their time together seems almost blissful. Brian is a loving dad who will do anything for his kids. One night, he decides to go out and get them ice cream. While he’s out, he defends a woman who is being beaten by her husband in the parking lot of the ice cream shop.
For Brian’s good deed, he is murdered. The police have to inform Audrey, who is not only devastated, but has to break the news to their two small children, Harper (Alexis Llewellyn), who is 10, and Dory (Micah Berry), who is 6. This provides the catalyst for the entire movie, as Audrey experiences the grief of losing not only her husband, but her best friend.
The day of the funeral arrives and Audrey realizes that she has forgotten about Jerry Sunborne (Benicio del Toro). Jerry is Brian’s childhood best friend, and he is also a heroin addict. Audrey isn’t particularly fond of Jerry, because of this, but she knows Brian cared for him and would want him at the funeral. She sends her brother, Neal (Omar Benson Miller), off to find Jerry and tell him the tragic news.
Worrying about bills, loneliness, depression and the welfare of her children, while struggling with thoughts of what Brian would have done to help Jerry, Audrey invites him to move in. They have a room up above the garage, so that’s where he lives. Her hope is that this will keep him from turning back to drugs and she will also have someone around to help with the house.
As Jerry struggles to stay clean, Audrey struggles with the demons that come from Brain’s death. Things like sleeping without him next to her, keep her awake all night. She also has to worry about Harper and Dory’s growing fondness for Jerry, as she fears that they will misguidedly replace how they felt about their dad with how they feel about him.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
Things We Lost in the Fire makes a much improved debut compared to the DVD. Don’t get me wrong, the DVD was not filled with problems, but the 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encoding with 2.35:1 aspect ratio comes through looking even better. This is not an action film, so you are measuring the effectiveness of the Blu-ray quality by explosions, vivid settings, or things found in action films. In a film like this everything is kept calm.
Close ups are commonplace and detail is found in small ways. That being said, this is not going to be the best or worst Blu-ray that you own. It falls somewhere in between. It ranks better than the DVD, but when compared to other Blu-rays it’s not perfect. There are no problems with edge enhancements or things of that sort. If anything, the only offense here is that things can get a little plain.
The audio here is given top treatment with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. In some ways this much power is unnecessary for a movie like this. The movie is mainly dialogue, so things are relatively calm throughout the movie and the surrounds don’t find a real cause for use. That being said the dialogue sounded perfect. Things were easy to hear and there was never a problem with toggling, sound defects, or other audio issues.
Again, you receive an upgrade from the DVD, but when compared to other Blu-rays, the fact that this is mainly dialogue means that in some ways it lacks the punch you’d expect from a Blu-ray presentation. Other audio formats are available in Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are available in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
If you have the DVD or the previously released HD version of Things We Lost in the Fire then you know what to expect here. The same exact bonuses are available on all three discs. If you’re looking for a reason to upgrade from DVD or Blu-ray this definitely isn’t going to be the area to consider that will help you make the decision. What you receive is a featurette, some deleted scenes, and a theatrical trailer. A commentary is not available, but the featurette does serve as a mini commentary in some ways.
“A Discussion About Things We Lost in the Fire” includes the Director, Susanne Bier and lasts for about twenty minutes. She talks about the film, script work, what it was like during the shooting process, and what her goal was overall with this particular project. It wasn’t a bad featurette overall. Bier talks openly and avoids the self-congratulatory babble that you hear on so many other tracks.
The deleted scenes include seven various scenes that were dropped from the movie. It’s easy to see why they were left out of the film. Still, if you enjoyed the film it would be easy to sit through these at least once.
Things wrap up with the theatrical trailer.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Things We Lost in the Fire is a great movie, but purchasing this in Blu-ray is just a waste of time. The bonus features are recycled from the standard DVD, for the most part, and the quality isn’t so amazingly different that this is worth the upgrade. If you are a Blu-ray hound and don’t own this already, by all means buy this in whatever format you like. If you already own the standard DVD, forget about upgrading. This version of the Blu-ray isn’t worth it.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Halle Berry, Things We Lost in the Fire, Drama, Death, Coping, BD Review, Excellent Performances
Written by Ashtyn Evans – Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.
