My Sister's Keeper - 19th February 2013

Tuesday Night is Film Night swaps genres again tonight and this time there will be tears, as we find out about;

My Sister's Keeper

A definite tear jerker this week. Nick Cassavetes directs this adaptation of the novel by Jodi Picoult.
Abigail Breslin portrays superbly, Anna Fitzgerald a 13-year-old girl who was conceived by IVF in order to be a genetic match for her older sister, Kate.

Kate is played by Sofia Vassilieva, who is totally outstanding and mesmerising as the suffering sibling, who has battled leukaemia since early childhood.

Despite being a normal, healthy child, Anna has undergone countless surgical procedures, transfusions and injections to aid her sister. Now, at the age of 13, she decides enough is enough and although she should donate a kidney to her sister, who has gone into renal failure, Anna starts proceedings to sue her parents (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) for medical emancipation.

As you watch the opening sequences, you pick up the story, discovering the history, hardship and heartache the whole family have been through, but the unique twist of Anna serving her parents with a writ to take control of her own body, is a bit of a surprise, leading one to think; which direction will the story take?

Anna finds Campbell Alexander, (Alec Baldwin), an attorney who is willing to take on the case and fight Anna's parents through the court, to allow her the right to protect her body. Whilst her mother Sara Fitzgerald (Diaz), who just happens to be a lawyer, protests that she is too young to make such a decision.

Throughout the film, we see flashbacks to earlier parts of the family's lives, filling in detail, to keep you up to speed with the plot. The use of flashbacks in films, can sometimes be confusing, but in My Sister's Keeper, it is done really well and a provides the back stories to some of the current storylines.

It is extremely difficult to write down here what happens in the film, beyond the basic facts, you need to see the film, to feel the emotions that it portrays. The subject matter is sad, there's no question, but it's not just the subject of cancer that is so sad, it's the way that this family, which has been so close, can be pulled apart, whilst trying so hard to stay together.

It is certainly a film to tug at the heart-strings. More-so due to the outstanding performances by the child stars. Cameron Diaz puts in a glowing performance as well, so not just there for her beauty. Kudos must also go to Joan Kusack, who plays the judge presiding over the trial, which provides a pivotal moment in the story.

All in all a really good film, great acting, fantastic story and emotions a-plenty.

As to the score, we're giving it 9 out of 10.