Drama burns for Oscar consideration, not real emotion

Even the title screams "Pretentious drama created for the sole purpose of snagging Oscar nominations!"

-- doesn't it?

"Things We Lost in the Fire" traffics in misery, pain, loss and sadness, all supplied by Halle Berry and co-star Benicio Del Toro, emoting up storms of angst, guilt, self-loathing, depression and emotional paralysis.

It's an exhausting movie, and a surprisingly ineffectual one given its grade-A main cast and its Academy Award credentialed producer, Sam Mendes, director of "American Beauty."

Still, "Things" has the tinge if not the substance of Oscar worthiness, and although it spends most of its time in darkness, it strives hard to hit a tentative note of hope to qualify for what national quote-whore Shawn Edwards might refer to as "the feel-good movie of the year!"

Berry plays Audrey Burke, mother of two and widow of slain husband Brian Burke, played by the emotionally straitjacketed David Duchovny, the erstwhile "X-Files" star with a long track record of playing stiffs.

Depicted as a saintly dad, a caring husband and an excellent provider in flashbacks, Brian pays for doing good deeds when he tries to help a woman being assaulted by her murderous husband on the streets of Seattle.

Also in flashbacks, we see how saintly Brian stayed in touch with his messed-up childhood friend, Jerry Sunborne (Del Toro), a jobless drug addict and terrible excuse for a human being. No matter how low Jerry sinks, Brian stays with him.

Brian's death puts Audrey into a tailspin. She sleeps all the time. Ignores her kids. Ignores herself. Eventually, she meets with Jerry, seething with resentment that Brian wasted hours of his life over Jerry.

As Audrey and Jerry's damaged souls begin to connect, they fill each other's voids in ways neither could predict.

There are many things to admire about "Things." Allan Loeb's screenplays avoids the obvious cliché of having the widow and the dead husband's best friend fall into a convenient romantic clinch. They think about it, but know better.

Loeb knows how tough it can be for an addict to break the cycle, and Del Toro's depiction of Jerry's slow road to rehab takes a lot of dark detours and meandering routes.

The fetching Alison Lohman plays a recovering addict named Kelly. Just when Hollywood convention demands that the two strike up an obligatory romance, something far more realistic strikes Jerry.

Del Toro imbues his could-have-been-one-dimensional character with humanity and dark humor, unlike Berry, whose Audrey runs at two speeds: emotionally immobilized and not-so-emotionally immobilized.

Directed with dramatic bluntness by Danish filmmaker Suzanne Bier (making her American debut), "Things We Lost in the Fire" pitches itself as a sincere work, but comes off as a bald and bold pitch for Academy consideration.

"Things We Lost in the Fire"

2 1/2 stars out of four

Opens today

Starring

Halle Berry as Audrey Burke

Benicio Del Toro as Jerry Sunborne

David Duchovny as Brian Burke

Alison Lohman as Kelly

John Carroll Lynch as Howard

Written by Allan Loeb. Produced by Sam Mendes and Sam Mercer. Directed by Susanne Bier. A Paramount Pictures release. Rated R (drug use, language). Running time: 118 minutes.