Take 43: Collateral Beauty

Tuesday:  My "take" on a film.

Collateral Beauty (2016)

We are all connected.

One of my sisters died in May, and ever since her death it seems like everything I select to read, watch, or listen to, includes something about grief. A flash-flood of tears nearly washed me off the highway when R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" came on the radio while driving.

I'm not consciously selecting things with that topic, but apparently my subconscious knows I need it--so, I shouldn't be surprised when a movie I placed on the Netflix "My List" awhile back, and just recently decided to watch, turned out to be about...grief, of course.

On the film's website, Warner Bros. describes: "When a successful New York ad executive suffers a personal tragedy and retreats from life, his friends devise a drastic plan to reach him before he loses everything. ...  [T]his thought-provoking drama explores how even the deepest tragedy can reveal moments of beauty."

In one of the scenes, a woman (Naomie Harris) who facilitates grief therapy meetings shares:

MADELINE

...something started to happen to me, you know. I would be walking or on the subway, whatever, and I would just burst into tears. But these weren't Olivia tears. These were tears born from something else, from this... from this kind of profound connection to everything. And I realized it was the collateral beauty.

HOWARD (Will Smith)

There's no such thing as collateral beauty.

MADELINE

There is Howard. There really is. It'll never bring her back. And it will never ever make it okay. But I promise you, it's there.

What a beautiful movie! Intriguing and original. I love the concept of collateral beauty--blessed moments accompanying or following painful events--and as I reflect on the heart-breaking days spent next to my sister's deathbed, I recognize many of those beautiful moments.

I originally added the movie to My List because I figured with such big names in the cast (e.g. Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Kiera Knightley) it ought to be good, right? I've seen most of Will Smith's films, so I'm not sure how I missed this one when it was released, but I certainly needed to see it now.

Warner Bros. Trailer: Collateral Beauty

Notes on content:

• No sex or nudity, but there are some references to adultery.
• One F-word, and infrequent mild swearing.
• Some anger portrayed, but no violence.