The Light Between Oceans (2016)

A young woman (Rachel Weisz) loses her husband (Leon Ford) and her baby daughter when they are lost at sea and she understandably finds it difficult to come to terms with it. A lighthouse keeper (Michael Fassbender) and his wife (Alicia Vikander), who has had two miscarriages, find a dead man and a living baby girl adrift in a boat. Some 5 years later, the two stories will merge and with tragic consequences for all concerned. Directed by Derek Cianfrance (BLUE VALENTINE) from the novel by M.L. Stedman, this is a cerebral tearjerker. It has some real powerhouse moments (bring some Kleenex) but Cianfrance holds back as if he feared if he goes all the way, we'd feel manipulated like those crappy Nicholas Sparks movie adaptations. While I can respect his "good taste" and lack of manipulation, his reticence gives the film a sterility that compromises it. It's the kind of film where you find your allegiances shifting but by the end of the movie, everything is tied up in a neat tidy knot. Too tidy perhaps, I wouldn't have minded a little messier ending. With actors like Fassbender, Vikander and Weisz, you would expect terrific performances and in that respect they deliver. In fact, all three are pretty awesome. With Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson.