juneebuggy This was good, an emotionally powerful drama about grief, addiction and love. In all honesty its kind of an average film brought up a bar because of the extraordinary performances from Halle Barry and Benicio Del Toro -who is amazing. The pace is slow and its really a character study of their relationship which was intriguing to watch unfold.The story follows a grief stricken woman as she tries to forge a bond with her deceased husbands childhood friend, an ex-lawyer who is struggling with drug addiction. It's a bit jumpy in the beginning as we get a lot of flashbacks after the tragedy to show her husband (David Duchovny) in his life with his children, wife and friends. He really is a good guy here, stable and nice, family man.The movie is all about the after though and Barry does grief real well showing all sides (crazy, unhinged, angry, desperate) At times she's also full of hate which gets directed at 'Jerry', who just takes it. Del Doro is excellent, very believable and a little heartbreaking.About the only thing I disliked about this movie was the weird camera pans the director seemed obsessed with, where suddenly the audience is getting an extreme close-up of Halle Barry's lips or ear, David's hands or Benico's eyes. These shots were jarring and took me out of the moment. 5/24/15

Joe Malone Whilst 7.2 may look like a respectable IMDb score it is something of a travesty for this particular movie. It's rare for movies to fall into that category of movies that I can watch repeatedly but things we lost does just that. It is seven years since I first saw the movie and age does not weaken its impact. Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro have never been better but then there simply isn't a bad performance in this movie. The movie is beautifully written and directed and even at its current score of 7.2, things we lost, is a vastly under rated movie that far too many have failed to see. Add it to your top 100 must see movies before you die.

ladymidath I have to admit that I was looking for another film when I cam across this one. Being a huge fan of Benicio del Toro I decided to sit down and watch it. Things We Lost In The Fire is a very fine film and the performances of del Toro and Halle Berry were just spot on. The direction of Susanne Bier was perfect and seemed to bring out the best in the actors.The film tells the story of a woman (Berry) who loses her husband ((David Duchovny) when he tries to stop a man from beating his wife. Grief stricken she is really not coping and she asks a friend of her husband Brian, a heroin addict called Jerry Sunborne to stay with her and her two children.This is a story of grief and loss but it is also a story of strength, love and hope. In any other hands, this would be a dreary film indeed but it's not.There are many beautiful and powerful scenes in this film but the best is Benicio del Toro's Jerry going through withdrawal. The scene is heart breaking and quite realistic. Also the scene where Audrey (Berry) finds him in a filthy squat smacked out of his mind.This is definitely one of Benicio del Toro's best films and one worth watching. Sad, yes but also imbued with hope as well. These characters are flawed in their own way. Jerry's addiction, Audrey's anger and difficulty coping with the loss of her gentle and loving husband. I have to say, I am not a huge fan of Halle Berry, but this was her film, she shone out in it. The two actors who played her children, Alexis Llewellyn as Harper Burke and Micah Berry as Dory Burke were outstanding. They both managed to avoid the cutesyness that some child actors have. David Duchovny was wonderful as usual and a special mention to Omar Benson Miller as Neal, Audrey's brother. He was great.I hope that Benicio del Toro makes more films like this in the future.

eric262003 I had high expectations when I saw "Things We Lost in the Fire", Partially because I am a huge fan of Halle Berry and the story structure looked at the most quite intriguing. Sad to say, it failed to give us a rich, deeply emotional story and that's where I deduct several points. Editing, production and a better script could have made this movie ten times more better than what was given to us.The story is set in the present times with well-timed flashbacks in the background to keep the story in tact. Halle Barry plays the role of Audrey Burke, a single woman with two daughters. Her husband Brian (David Duchovny) was tragically killed. From the flashbacks we are informed that Brian's friend from childhood Jerry (excellently portrayed by Benicio Del Toro) were still close even in adulthood only Jerry is now a heroin addict and that Brian has helped him throughout his ordeal by paying him a visit regularly and to provide groceries to him, much to the annoyance of Audrey who felt concerned about Brian visiting Jerry because of the bad side of town in which Jerry lives.In the complexity of Audrey's stems from two possibilities. It could be whether she wants to hang on to her husband's memory or just a simple need for attention, Audrey takes Jerry under her wing to help him overcome his addiction as she invites him under her roof and lets him sleep in her garage which is like a studio apartment in which she repetitively reminds us of "stuff that was lost in the fire" and Brian kept on constantly reminding her "we didn't lose each other and that's the most important" that's how the title came about.Audrey's multi-layered personification is to say the least comes across as at times unusual and at times self-centred as she makes unorthodox demands for Jerry like making him rub her ear lobes so that she can go to sleep at night. The scene itself makes me want to cringe in anger, I mean it was okay that she invited Jerry and be a part of her family, but also refuses Jerry to come anywhere close to her children. I guess this just adds to the complexity of her character. Sure it's nice that she wants to fill in her husband's void to get this dude on the straight and narrow, but for him to resort to force him into rubbing her ears is just overdone and lacks any believable traits to the story.On the whole the performances were quite impressive, but the dialogue feels contrived to the extent that we get the feeling that director Susanne Bier's been watching several episodes of Dr. Phil with the continual saying rubbed in our faces that we must "take things one day at a time". The whole psychology of the film makes the subject matter saccharine and superficial. To me this whole predicament makes me very uncomfortable and insults my intelligence for that matter. The kids are offered stereotypical ridiculous lines like the one daughter who screamed at Jerry accusing him for "taking over her father's place." Sure broken families are everywhere, but I don't think children really talk this way. If I talked that way to my dad I would have been grounded. It's only just people assuming how kids would react in those kind of situations. The reaction I got shocked me and angered me at the same time.If you thought the script was appalling, the direction does not fare any better. Miss Bier assumes that in-your-face close-ups of one's eyes springs emotions and artistic merits or any kind of importance. I was wondering, why the eyeball close-ups? Does she have some kind of strange eye fetish or something? There was nothing significant to it at all. It didn't make the movie any more better. It just wandered off like a lost sheep. The only good thing about the direction is that Miss Bier did was that she let her performers utilize their acting chops even though the material given to them was scarce and not very satisfying. In addition the flashbacks were handled with care and set them at the right time and it was quite informative and compelling.Although I ranted more than I raved I still give this movie a six out of ten. The acting was sublime, the subject of the matter holds one's interest, and Halle Berry turns in a brilliant performance even through her complex nature. Sadly the editing, the script and the directing brought the film down which had a lot of potential going for it. I still recommend those who want to see it, and I hope that if you see it you won't be upset with all the faults that come with it.