Pic: Rosario Dawson and Will Smith in “Seven Pounds”
Curiously compelling tale skilfully woven by director Gabriele Muccino. (Review by Billy Suter)
For the first half-hour or so of the two-hour-plus drama, Seven Pounds, the audience is clutching at straws, trying to unravel the tangle of a string of enigmatic characters and situations that add to the puzzle that is the life of the ever-earnest and clearly troubled lead character.
But the fragmented, flashback approach to the unfurling of the story works in the film’s favour, making curiously compelling a tale that - were it presented in linear fashion and placed in the hands of a lesser director - is almost certain to have quickly dissolved in a flood of syrupy schmaltz.
Not that the final product doesn’t still ripple with sentiment. It does – and there’s enough of it to ensure at least someone in the cinema will wipe an eye or stifle a sniffle.
The story, frankly, is pretty absurd, but one buys into it through strong central performances from Will Smith and Rosario Dawson and the novel unfolding of the story, which starts to reveal clues to its mysteries about halfway through. Be warned, however, that director Gabriele Muccino, who directed Smith to an Oscar nomination for the far better The Pursuit of Happyness is in no rush to tell his story. The pacing, it should be noted, is funereal at times and one’s patience will be tested.
Smith plays US Internal Revenue Services agent Ben Thomas who, we quickly ascertain, is a man depressed and guilt-ridden: “God created the world in seven days; I destroyed mine in seven seconds,” he utters during the film’s opening credits.
Thomas, we discover, is trying to become something of a super-Samaritan, rattling off seven names of strangers to whom he swears to dish out acts of kindness, varying from financial help or a safer haven, to body parts should they so require them. This, we gather, is to make him feel better for a secret that becomes increasingly obvious as we get more information in flashback sequences.
We learn the secret relates to a lovely woman from a picturesque beach home – and we also learn that Ben’s life has links to a blind salesman and freelance pianist (Woody Harrelson), a social worker who expresses a great appreciation of Ben, and a battered mother. Also hurled into this convoluted tale are a vegetarian Great Dane, a deadly jellyfish, a broken printing machine, a seedy motel and odd conversations between Ben and his brother and Ben and a longtime pal.
You’ll be relieved to know the story strands do meet eventually, making sense by the time we reach the finale, by which time Ben has become increasingly attached to a woman he helps – a maker of greeting cards, Emily (Rosario Dawson), who is awaiting a heart transplant. Rating 6/10 - Billy Suter
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