Long(er) Version: My DVD copy of Matters of Life and Death arrived the other day. (The expense ended up being rather pricey..especially for a "short" and not a full-length feature). But that's beside the point.
The story is about three siblings dealing with their grief in loosing their parents in the 9-11 attacks. The parents' deaths are not explained until half-way through the story; meanwhile, all three siblings (Rachel Leigh Cook, Joseph Mazzello, Nick Heyman) are dealing with their grief differently. Emily (Cook) gets stoned, Jon (Heyman) is sedated, and David (Mazzello) is trying to hold everyone together.
The film is emotionally honest enough (if not a bit contrived) and, for young actor Mazzello, it is a very solid directorial debut. Of the three young actors, Mazzello is the emotional center, as well as the best actor.
David shows up near the end of the film in a flashback as the childrens' father. It's very short (maybe 30 seconds) and the dialogue between he and his young sons is a bit..fluffy, but it's memorable. What's interesting is that, despite the audience not ever seeing the childrens' parents (there are no closeup photographs and not until the end of the film do we see David or hear the Mom's voice on a saved 9-11 phone message), their presence is felt very heavily throughout the entire film. Strange, but profound.
Overall, worth seeing once. But if you intend to buy it just for David's scenes, you'll be disappointed.
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