The Lovely Bones (PG-13)
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This came out in 2009, but I didn't see it until 2014. It's based on a 2002 novel, which I haven't read. But I understand the book is more explicit than the movie, which is probably for the best. Anyway, it's set in 1973 (or at least the main plot point is), so I guess I could call it a period film. But I won't. It also has a supernatural element (in a vein similar to What Dreams May Come), but somehow I don't quite think of it as a supernatural movie. It's a bit scary, a bit art, a bit coming of age, but I guess mainly I think of it as a drama, so...

Anyway. Um. It's got several good actors, but I was mainly interested in it because the protagonist, Susie Salmon, is played by Saoirse Ronan, of whose work I'm a fan from several other things. Susie narrates the film, which begins when she's about two years old, but quickly jumps forward to when she's fourteen. We soon learn that she's narrating from the afterlife, having been murdered, but we do get to see a bit of her life before the murder, enough to connect with her as a person (and not just a spirit, or whatever). She seems like a nice, normal kid. She loves her parents and her younger siblings, even if she has some very minor squabbles. And she has a crush on a boy named Ray, with whom she makes plans to meet shortly before her murder. And we see a man named George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) lure her to an underground "clubhouse" he's built. He's the kind of predator who seems creepy, but at first potentially harmless (even though we know in advance that he's not). Supposedly 1973 is a simpler time, when people were less wary of such dangers than they are today, so I guess it makes sense that a smart girl like Susie could be tricked. Even so, it doesn't take too long for her to get scared, but by then it's too late. She tries to escape, and it seems as if she does, but we quickly realize she actually didn't. (Apparently the book depicted her rape and murder, but the movie rather mercifully skipped over that.)

Well... once Susie realizes she's dead, her time is divided between watching her family on Earth, and enjoying some time in a sort of middleground between Earth and Heaven, where she is befriended by a girl who calls herself Holly Golightly (a name she borrowed, obviously, from "Breakfast at Tiffany's"). I must say, the scenes set in this limbo are pretty cool, visually. But of course, it can't last forever. Susie needs to let go of Earth so that she can move on, but she's not willing to do that. And her father, Jack (Mark Wahlberg), becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her. He spends all his time bombarding police detective Len Fenerman with theories. Meanwhile, Susie's mother, Abigail (Rachel Weisz), seems unable to cope with her daughter's death, and eventually leaves. But not until her own mother has come to take care of things in the household... though Grandma Lynn (Susan Sarandon) drinks a lot, and seems as if she has no idea how to do any housework. (Still, I find her amusing.) And Susie's sister, Lindsey (Rose McIver), begins to suspect Mr. Harvey of killing Susie. Oh, and there's a girl named Ruth, who feels a sort of connection to Susie after her death, and who becomes close to Ray.

I guess I don't want to reveal any more of the plot. It's not the easiest film to watch, but it could have been much harder than it is. I think it's a good story, and well-acted. And... I don't really know what else to say. But I'm definitely glad to have seen it.