The ‘Keeper’ of Love

How far would you go in order to save the life of those whom you love?

Director Nick Cassavetes answers this question and continues to show his mastery of bringing novels to the big screen (in 2004 he made a movie adaptation of Nicolas Sparks’ “The Notebook”) by taking Jodi Picoult’s novel, “My Sister’s Keeper,” and making another quality film. Despite the relatively modest success at the box office, “My Sister’s Keeper” is a heart-warming, eye-watering, thought-provoking feature, bringing the novel to life on the big screen thanks to an excellent cast.

The absolute star of the movie, who steals almost every scene in it, is big-screen newcomer Sofia Vassilieva. The native Minnesotan and ethnic Russian is so convincing in her portrayal of a cancer-stricken adolescent that at times one could believe that she actually has the disease. Her acting is superb when she cries in pain, vomits out of exhaustion, talks with her boyfriend about death as if talking about tooth extraction and whispers her final farewells to family and friends.

Academy Award-nominee Abigail Breslin (“The Ultimate Gift”) justifies her acclaim with her naturalness, innocence and genuine acting as well.  Just like the chained woman Andromeda from Greek mythology, Breslin’s portrayal of Andromeda “Anna” Fitzgerald is conceived in vitro and “chained” by her parents, Sara (Cameron Diaz, “The Holiday”) and Brian (Jason Patric, “The Alamo”), to be a donor for her dying sister Kate. Yet Breslin’s character shows great courage in trying to break those chains by hiring an ambitious lawyer named Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin, “The Departed”) to help her earn emancipation from her family.

Breslin’s spontaneity steals every scene from Baldwin, whose witty appearance only brings some cheerfulness into the otherwise sad tone of the movie.

In spite of her solid work here, the veteran Diaz is overshadowed by the two child actresses. She completely departs from her unrealistic roles of a sexy private investigator in the action comedy “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and of a poker-loving broker in the romantic comedy “What Happens in Vegas” when portraying the down-to-earth grief-stricken mom. Even though her acting is respectable, it yields a long way to the acting of her much younger co-stars who seem to be masters of their own emotions.

Despite the fact that there are discrepancies between the movie and the novel in terms of geographic location and the outcome, the big-screen adaptation unarguably succeeds in conveying the major themes of Picoult’s book – life, death, courage, sacrifice, loyalty, love.  The director’s approach of showing the story through the perspective of each character contributes further to the novel-like appearance of the movie.

Because of that, even though it is not recommended for people with weak hearts, “My Sister’s Keeper” is definitely worth seeing.