Chapter fifty-six: Before and After

Hi all! Let's see, what's new this week? Well, I feel it only appropriate to start with the fact that Christopher Plummer died Friday. The Sound of Music remains my favorite musical; it's timeless. May he rest in peace.

In other news, the Super Bowl is tomorrow. (Probably today or yesterday, depending on when you read this.) Based on the information my Accounting teacher gives us about sports and logistics, I'm rooting for whatever team Tom Brady isn't on, which is the Kansas City Chiefs, that much I know. Also, I'm looking forward to a Dolly Parton commercial where she revives her song 9 to 5. I like that song. It makes me feel like a real working woman.

But, I won't lie, I'm paying closer attention to the Golden Globes, which will be at the end of this month. This brings me to my next statement that I am going to calmly type with no underlying bitterness, Meryl was not nominated. But, the upside is James Corden, Nicole Kidman, and Hugh Grant were.

I talked all about this with my dad the other day, and the conversation lulled a little. I could tell he was getting bored, so I brought up the Super Bowl as enthusiastic as possible. He saw right through my lack of interest and said, "Oh, yeah, they're gonna go out in their costumes and toss the ball around." Tone doesn't exactly translate via type, but it was funny the way he said it. Anyway, before I embarrass myself any further by sharing my lack of sports knowledge, this week's movie is from 1996 called Before and After. It works well with the recent weather we've just experienced.

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Carolyn Ryan (Meryl) is a doctor, and her husband Ben (Liam Neason) is a painter. They have two children, Jacob and Judith (Edward Furlong and Julia Weldon), and live in a small Western Massachusetts town. Essentially, it's about the family living their conventional lives until they are no longer conventional.

When Jacob's girlfriend Martha (Alison Folland) is found dead one winter afternoon, Jacob is the made prime suspect in her murder. That evening, a detective asks to search the house. Despite him being a family friend, Ben becomes angry, accusatory, and demands a search warrant (which is never a good sign.) When the officer is turned away, the Ryans realize that Jacob isn't even home yet, which has Ben concerned even more. He takes matters into his own hands and searches Jacob's car. What he finds is incriminating, so Ben destroys it in a bonfire. Carolyn, who is all for the truth, is at odds with her husband's actions, saying he could've destroyed evidence that would have proved Jacob innocent.

Meanwhile, a terrified Jacob is absent from home for weeks, sending nothing but lackadaisical postcards. When he returns, he gives the silent treatment to his family. By this point, news of the story has breached the community, dragging the family's name through the mud. Yet, the unrelenting, uncanny support and patience of his parents makes Jacob feel as though he has no choice but to come clean. A bombshell drops... figuratively. My better judgment says I shouldn't spoil the dialogue, since Jacob's narrative is really the main, suspenseful purpose of the movie, but the end result was Martha's accidental death. The point being, he, in fact, killed her. Ben coaches Jacob on a different version of the story (harping on the self-defense part), and they use it to tell the (ill-suited) lawyer. Carolyn's response to Ben's misconception between fatherly love and lawful-deception is,

"Now he has to defend you as well as himself."

At trial, Ben confronts the fact that there is nothing more he can do for Jacob. Carolyn comes clean in her testimony, revealing the true story of events, knowing nobody else will. Ben is furious; Jacob is relieved. This causes another family argument in which Jacob disappears the next morning. He has turned himself in and is released on probation after two years in prison.

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So based on other things I've read about this movie, it isn't very highly regarded, but I think you have to appreciate something for what it is. This movie is a murder mystery, and it succeeds at being not that much different from a two-hour whodunit on Dateline. That's what you'd hope, isn't it? (I know because my mom watches far too many of those.) I enjoyed it, and as I branch out more into the creative world of writing and movie-binging, I've certainly learned that creative endeavors cannot please everybody.

As always, thank you for the entertainment, Meryl.