The Book of Henry
/"Never leave things undone."
Filmology Rating: 2 out of 4
Back in 2012 a small independent film came out that took the indie film world by storm: Safety Not Guaranteed. The film was the start of the collaboration between director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly, who would also work together on Jurassic World and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX. Trevorrow and Connolly surprised the world with collaborating on one of the best independent films of 2012 and then made one of the highest grossing films of all time with Jurassic World. It seemed that this pair could do no wrong but then they decided to take a short break from their collaboration and went on to do other projects without the other. Connolly went to work on the “how did this get made” Monster Trucks and the fun Kong: Skull Island while Trevorrow decided to return to his indie roots with The Book of Henry.
Henry Carpenter, played by Jaeden Lieberher, is child prodigy who basically runs his family. He strategically invests in the stock market so his family will have money to live, he protects his brother Peter, played by Jacob Tremblay, at school from being tortured by bullies, and he tries to protect his neighbor Christina, played by Maddie Ziegler, who is being abused by her police commissioner stepfather, played by Dean Norris. Henry feels that he can always save the world but when a tumor is found in his brain he quickly realizes that the world is a darker place than he ever imagined.
The entire reason that I wanted to talk about the collaboration between Connolly and Trevorrow is because one of them is missing on this film and it is clearly felt. I’m not trying to say that Trevorrow can’t direct because I believe he can, every frame on The Book of Henry was carefully composed and is fascinating to look at. Visually the film offers great cinematography from John Schwartzman, who also shot Jurassic World. Each frame is well balanced and is always interesting to look at. Trevorrow also knows how to get good performances out his cast especially from the younger actors like Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay and Maddie Ziegler. Trevorrow is also a writer who helped co-write Jurassic World and co-wrote the upcoming Jurassic World sequel and Star Wars: Episode IX films. I don’t believe Trevorrow is the problem with The Book of Henry, I’m going to put most of the blame on first time screenwriter Gregg Hurwitz.
The Book of Henry starts off as a small family drama that has normally family issues: having to do yard work, having to go to work, having to eat food that we might not want to eat. Rather simple aspects of life but all the same they are everyday occurrences. The film then takes a zig and becomes a medical drama, complete with the doctor who might be the love interest later in the film for the single parent. The film then takes one more zag and becomes a thriller about an assassination. The screenplay by Hurwitz is basically three separate films compiled into one film, and while I have no direct issue when films do that it just means they have more of a challenge in front of them. You would need to seamlessly change from one tone to the other and I believe that the first two acts work seamlessly and are effective narratively and emotionally. It’s when the third act kicks in that you find yourself questioning the entire world that the film set up, it feels completely unrealistic, yet I did find myself laughing at some of the humor in the third act so it worked for me
One of the best and worst things about every Rube Goldberg machine is that you need every piece to fall just right otherwise you will have an uncontrollable mess on your hands. While The Book of Henry never becomes a complete mess it losses it’s way during the third act and it losses all the effectiveness that it had as a thriller or as a family drama. A moment occurs during the third act that is best compared to the “Maratha” moment from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The moment in this film works just as well as the moment did in BvS, meaning it doesn’t work at all and I found myself laughing at what is supposed to be one of the most human moments of the film.
Easily the best part of The Book of Henry is the performances given by the younger members of the cast: Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay, and Maddie Ziegler. Lieberher has been an emerging young actor for the past few years after being in films like St. Vincent and Midnight Special and he proves with The Book of Henry that he will be an actor to watch in the years to come. He proves to that he can be both comedic and dramatic in the same scene, which makes the camera always drawn to him. Tremblay captured everyone’s heart with him performance in Room, for which he was robbed a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the Oscars that year, and in The Book of Henry he proves that he is the real deal. Tremblay pulls at your heartstrings to the point where you cannot help but let the waterworks flow and you want to reach out and give him a comforting embrace and promise him that things will get better soon. He will certainly win an Oscar in his acting career if he continues to keep acting. The last young star in this film, Ziegler, perfectly portrays a person going through abuse. She captures the sense of the unknown and has the look of betrayal on her face during every scene. Ziegler has a dance scene during the third act that has so much emotion poured into it that you feel like you are going to burst like a balloon from the amount of suffering you are watching. The highest compliment that I can give these three actors is that I cannot imagine anyone else playing the roles that they did, they captured the characters perfectly and should be rewarded with praise.
Another aspect of this film that I found appealing was one of the main themes of the film. Henry at one point says that violence isn’t the biggest issue in the world, but apathy is. While I cannot say that I condone violence of any nature, I do agree that apathy is an issue right now. When looking at our state of politics in the United States, it has become how can I advance; what can I do to make myself better or richer. When it should be what can I do to make sure we advance, what can I do to better our society. How can you help your fellow man instead of throwing him down and stomping all over him. While this film doesn’t have a clear way for everyone to empathize with one another, it does over the olive branch and whether you decide to take it or not depends on your nature to be a good human being or not.
The most frustrating part of The Book of Henry is how good a film it could have been. All the aspects to make it good are clearly on screen, from cinematography to the acting; it should be a better movie than it is. The film falters because it doesn’t have a clear tonal vision and the third act just becomes too unbelievable. I personally applaud Colin Trevorrow for attempting to make a special film, it just sadly doesn’t make it to the finish line.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G