My Sister's Keeper
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz, Sofia Vassilieva
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
Rated: M
At the heart of this tear-jerking tale of family, love and life is a sad truth everyone will one day face. For some, though, death is sooner rather than later.
Cameron Diaz is mostly known for her perky, cheerful characters. As the mother of Kate, a child suffering from leukaemia, however, she puts on a memorable, sombre performance. As part of a family on the brink of emotional breakdown due to the stress and trauma of being helpless in the face of their sibling's struggle with cancer, Diaz plays a very believable mother.
There is a twist in this otherwise familiar story, however. Anna (played extremely well by the young Breslin), who has been genetically engineered and bred to donate cells and organs in order to ensure the survival of her sister, says she no longer wants to go through with any medical procedures. She's had enough. So she sues her family for ''medical emancipation'', which would give her the legal right to stop helping her dying sister.
Director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) tries to make you cry at every possible opportunity. Practically every character in the movie has his or her own tragedy (cancer, epilepsy, a dead child). This detracted from the movie as a whole - it was a bit unbelievable (but that's just my humble male opinion! I'm sure most girls would disagree!).
Despite most of the cast being relatively unknown, their characters are acted out very well. A particularly noteworthy performance is given by Vasselieva as the cancer-ridden Kate. She is so believable, it's hard to imagine she is just acting. Her makeup was pretty good too!
I'm pretty sure the girls will enjoy this film more than the guys, but there is no need to rush to see it at the cinemas. You can wait till it comes out on DVD and appreciate it just as much.
A note to all girls going to see this film: have tissues at the ready! This movie rates very high on the list of biggest tear-jerker movies!
3 out of 5
