Good start, but then it gets ruined

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I've seen this movie a few times and I believe Nicole is sexually involved with Billy Ansel as well as her father. The clue comes if you watch her clothes. When she leaves the baby sitting she is wearing a skirt and a blue sweater. When Billy Ansel arrives back with the headlights shining on Nicole she is wearing blue jeans. That puts Billy in the house when Nicole changes clothes and in the scene showing her changing she is in the bedroom and Billy's ex wife's clothes are sitting on the bed. Either the shining head lights scene is a goof (Nicole wearing the wrong clothes) or this is a hay maker I have never seen in a movie before. Up until now I thought the clothes changing scene was before Billy came back. If this was intended and not a goof this film is about a 15 out of 10 and the best film ever made by far and probably the best mystery also. Am I the only person who got this?

Excellently paced, disjointed editing for maximal effect. How greed can hinder our sense of community and morality. Excellent Ensemble cast. Sarah Polley is excellent as a survivor whose family hires a lawyer to represent her and other families wounded emotionally from an accident. The lawyer is tired of giving into his daughter's whims and fueling her addiction and wants to help her but thinks its futile while he is taking advantage of peoples emotions for gain. This movie makes you think about morality, community, integrity, loss and suffering. For serious filmgoers it is one not to miss. Theirugeiurgheirugheiurghieurhgieurhgieurhgieurghieruhgeiruhgeiru gheiurghieurhgieurhgiuehrgiuehriguehriguheriugheiruhguierhgieurhg uiehrgiuheriguheriugheirugheirugheiruhgeirughieurhgieurhgieurhgiu ehrguiehr

A single horrific accident that reaps away dozens of children jolts a small town out of its reverie. The damage done is irreparable, and it's up to the lawyers to find a culprit, because after all someone has to be made responsible, big time... - Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter", based on Russell Banks' novel bearing the same title, is a writer's/filmmaker's take on events that actually took place in Alton, Texas, in 1989 where the disaster involving dozens of fatalities led to an array of lawsuits to reach settlements as compensation for the deaths of the children. In the process people who shared the same trauma and grief became even further estranged from each other, despite or especially because of the reparations that were paid. Maybe the price tags put on the children were varying, but it was only a symptom - things could never be the same again. Whole futures perished with the lives lost in an instance, and the animosities the lawsuits brought with them made it even harder to move on for everyone involved.Canadian filmmaker Egoyan does not tell that particular story, but a fictional version of it, thereby even upstaging Banks' source material e.g. by adding a recurring spot-on poetical reference that is prone to send shivers down your spine. Also in focus of the film: The tight-knit community and a lawyer trying to help people make a case, resulting in a stirring slice-of-life portrayal of loss and how to cope with it seen from different angles. Tragic figures abound, nobody is spared, among them the lawyer himself (the outstanding Ian Holm), who has to deal with his own unrelated personal loss, or the paralyzed 14-year old survivor of the incident (touchingly played by Sarah Polley) who has to make a serious decision that will affect the whole community. The theme of estrangement, melancholy and helplessness permeates every action, always dominated by the question: How could one possibly get over a tragedy like that? But while the film comes across as sincere and real through the subtle way it was shot, its bittersweet visual poetry will haunt you, and the picture is also bold enough to go for a very powerful, unexpected final statement. "The Sweet Hereafter" is a deeply involving, mature and a thought-provoking piece of cinema and along with "Exotica" among Egoyan's very best.

Egptian-born Canadian screenwriter, producer and director Atom Egoyan's seventh feature film, an adaptation of American writer Russel Banks' novel from 1991 which was inspired by a true story concerning a school bus accident in Alton, Texas 1989, tells the story of middle-aged attorney Mitchell Stevens who arrives in a remote rural district of Canada in December 1995 to report the circumstances surrounding a tragic school bus accident and help the parents of the victims to file an insurance-case against the bus company. A task that becomes difficult when he learns that most of the parents have numerous dark secrets. As he gets closer to the inhabitants of the small community it becomes apparent that this case has a strong personal influence on him, but his devotion brings nothing good to the parents, who begins to question his motives when they see that the case has more meaning to him than to them.The great score, the mindful dialog and the lyrical cinematography by Paul Sarossy emphasizes the emphatic and mysterious atmosphere in this resonating and realistic psychological drama which is beautifully filmed by Atom Egoyan, who creates versatile perspectives with his nuanced and subtle camera movements. His detailed and introspective screenplay examines how a bus accident affects the people in a small community and the aftermath of sorrow in a profound way, and portrays an in-depth study of character about a grieving man who has a restrained relationship to a daughter he hardly ever sees and who finds comfort and identifies with the parents who lost their children in the accident. Ian Holm's interpretation of the lawyer is outstanding in a refined and understated performance.The overall acting is good and Sarah Polley delivers a remarkable acting performance in her breakthrough role as teenager Nicole Purnell. During this brilliantly directed Canadian film, a short poem from 1842 called "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by English poet and playwright Robert Browning (1812-1889) is read through Sarah Polley's voice-over. This fairy-tale forms a fine parallel to the story about the lawyer and the parents. With it's underlying lyrical aura and captivating narrative, this independent film stands as a poetic, compassionate and reflective masterpiece from the late 1990s.