My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 17, 2009

Any family that's been touched by cancer is all too familiar with the heartache, fear, strain, and sleepless nights that accompany a diagnosis. But few people genuinely understand how much more difficult it is when that diagnosis involves a child. While uncertainty is a frightening state of being, the possibility of losing someone who has yet to live their life, someone cherished above all else, is downright terrifying. In this case, ignorance truly is bliss. Sadly, for all its good intentions, My Sister's Keeper is little more than a contrived, overwrought tearjerker; a ham-fisted tragedy from writer/director Nick Cassavetes (John Q, Alpha Dog, The Notebook) that's more focused on amassing emotional responses from its audience than in telling a nuanced, heartbreaking tale of regret, grief, and redemption. Granted, it wriggled into the most vulnerable depths of my parental brain, made me care about its dysfunctional cast of characters, and even earned itself quite a few hard-fought tears, but I continually felt like a tattered marionette; one dangling perilously from Cassavetes' countless strings.

'My Sister's Keeper' boasts several strong performances, but not much else...

When their daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) is diagnosed with leukemia, Sara and Brian Fitzgerald (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) turn to in vitro fertilization to conceive Anna (Abigail Breslin), an exact genetic match capable of providing any organs, blood, or bone marrow Kate might need in the course of her treatment. For years, it works exactly as they hoped it would. The only thing they fail to anticipate is Anna's growing dissatisfaction with her preassigned role. Even though she loves her sister dearly -- her affection is rarely called into question -- she hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) and sues her parents for medical emancipation. Desperate to resolve their sudden legal woes before Kate's condition worsens, Sara (conveniently a lawyer herself) takes on her youngest daughter in an effort to secure a kidney Kate needs to survive. And who does the decision fall to? Judge De Salvo (an unexpectedly effective Joan Cusack), a woman recovering from her own tragic loss. It all culminates in an orchestration of heartstrings involving Sara and Brian's wavering marriage, their daughters' unique relationship, and Anna's plight to become her own person.

Every second of My Sister's Keeper plays out like the last five minutes of The Notebook. In fact, your appreciation of (or distaste for) such blatant tear-tugging will be eerily similar. Though brief bursts of levity are welcome, each scene has been meticulously designed to twerk tear ducts and elicit empathy. Don't get me wrong, the actors do a fine, if not impressive job with the material they've been handed, but the film is such a medley of emotional climaxes that it exhausts the very viewers it's attempting to draw in. It doesn't help that the characters are so poorly developed. Until several third act revelations force some of them to reflect on their circumstances and change their philosophies, they fulfill their preset purposes and inject little else into the mix. Sara is frustrating and infuriating; her views are so skewed that she's transformed from a conflicted mother into a despondent villain. Brian is overwhelmed but level-headed; a good-natured everyman meant to give us an anchor in a family steadily losing any semblance of one. Kate is accepting and serene; an all-too-understanding angel quietly working to hold her family together. Anna is innocent and precocious; a free spirit willing to sacrifice harmony with her parents to bring them out of their cancer-driven stupor. And Jesse? Oh, did I forget to mention the Fitzgerald's have a son? That's because Cassavetes forgot to give him a function beyond facilitating the film's last-minute sleight-of-hand. As it stands, Baldwin's lawyer and Cusack's judge are the director's most believable characters, and that's due, in large part, to how much the pair are able to do in the course of their relatively minuscule screentime.

Unfortunately, the problems don't end there. Cassavetes and co-writer Jeremy Leven's script is full of holes, their non sequential timeline is shaky, and their insistence on giving each character bits of narration is both obnoxious and jarring. Moreover, their tone is inconsistent and their pacing is spotty. Despite such personal and legal turmoil, scenes involving arguments between Anna and Sara are immediately proceeded by inexplicably happy jaunts about town with Kate; flashbacks, as well-conceived as a handful are, sometimes last seconds and sometimes drag on for what seems an eternity; and the court case at the heart of the story only surfaces when Cassavetes needs to push his characters and lend gravitas to the ordeal. The result? My Sister's Keeper is often a hodgepodge of genre conventions and clichés; a teetering vat of bittersweet, saccharine encounters and overt hot-button issues. I'm sure there are people out there who are more than willing to subject themselves to such shrewd directorial manipulation and fabricated adversity. I'm sure there are those who have Kleenex boxes on standby for just such a grueling genre pic. Me? I prefer subtlety to bluntness, complexity to pre-packaged conflict, and depth to superficial sentimentality. Take that for what it's worth.

My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While errant softness and artificial sharpening abound, the Blu-ray edition of My Sister's Keeper delivers a lush 1080p/VC-1 transfer faithful to Cassavetes and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's every ingratiating whim. Colors are rich and stable, lending skintones warmth and primaries power. The actors occasionally look as if they're being shot through a dreamsicle lens, but their flushes faces and bronzed cheeks are well within the realm of their filmmakers' established aesthetic. Likewise, black levels are dark and oppressive, but fit the mood of the scenes they accompany. Detail is more reliable, offering clean edges, fairly sharp textures, and decent delineation. Although closeups are more refined than establishing shots, the entire film has an attractive, stalwart appearance that grants several scenes some much-needed visual punch. Artifacting, banding, crush, and source noise are never a problem, and the ringing and aliasing that appear are so negligible that they almost warrant ignoring. And, if nothing else, it handily bests its standard DVD counterpart. Warner's transfer isn't going to sear eyes or soften hardened hearts, but it will satisfy anyone who partakes of its sun-soaked goodness.

My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Sister's Keeper is an exceedingly quiet film; instances of sonic power -- a hospital dance, a mascara-smeared tantrum, an ocean getaway, a screaming match between mother and daughter, among others -- fade into silence as quickly as they assault the soundscape, leaving little to latch onto aside from hushed conversations and somber music. However, Warner's proficient Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track makes the most of every hospital ward and lawyer's office, every beachside locale and roomy kitchen, producing convincing acoustics, active ambience, and a relatively immersive soundfield. Dialogue is also crisp and perfectly prioritized, pans are smooth, and directionality, while limited, is suitable to the task at hand. Yes, LFE output is curbed, and yes, the rear speakers are assigned menial responsibilities, but the film doesn't call for anything more. Warner's mix is both fit and faithful, both reserved and involving. It may be next to impossible to get excited about such a restrained presentation, but audiophiles and Cassavetes' dearly devoted will be more than pleased with the results.

My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray edition of My Sister's Keeper arrives with a pair of rather brief special features: a gushing, all-too-syrupy EPK (HD, 14 minutes) and a collection of eight semi-decent deleted scenes (SD, 16 minutes), all of which were wisely trimmed from the final cut. Suffice to say, a Jodi Picoult or Nick Cassavetes commentary would have gone a long way.

My Sister's Keeper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My Sister's Keeper will appeal to some and leave others shaking their heads. The cast's performances are strong, but Cassavetes' story and direction are so heavy-handed, manipulative, and contrived that the film isn't likely to elicit anything more substantial than scorn. Thankfully, its Blu-ray release is more remarkable. While its lackluster supplemental package is a letdown, its proficient video transfer and faithful TrueHD audio track deliver. Genre diehards, tissues in hand, will easily embrace the entire production. Everyone else should carefully consider their tastes before committing to a purchase.