THE DETAILS
US, 2011, 91 minutes, Colour.
Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Dennis Hayesbert, Ray Liotta, Kerry Washington.
Directed by Jacob Aaron Estes.
The Details is a mixture of the comic and the serious, and ironic fable about contemporary living.
The stories told from the point of view of a doctor, Jeff, Tobey Maguire, who has been married 10 years to his wife, Elizabeth Banks, and they have a son. All seems to be going well.
At the beginning, Jeff gives an indication and some clues as to what might happen. He is involved in unlawful extensions of his house, the lawn dug up by raccoons, his eccentric neighbour, Laura Linney, who dotes on her cats, makes some complaints to the authority but gets more involved with the doctor than we might have imagined. Jeff makes a number of stupid mistakes, including having a one night stand with his friend’s wife (Ray Liotta and Kerry Washington), but does good turns for a basketball coach, Dennis Hayesbert, finding him a job as well is donating a kidney.
Jeff gets himself into all kinds of tangles and there is a surprising, brutal solution to his main problem – followed by confessions and everything seeming to go back to order.
The film was directed by Jacob Aaron Estes who wrote the screenplay and made a name for himself and 2004 with Mean Creek.
1. The blend of the serious and comic? Reality and touches of absurdity?
2. Washington State, Seattle? Ordinary situations, homes and gardens, the neighbour next door? Playing basketball? Surgery? The bars, the building sites, the river and the bridge? The musical score?
3. The title, the plot, the characters?
4. Jeff and his narrative, his explanation of the clues, the symbolic nature? His attitudes, observing life, the final moralising?
5. Jeff’s story, his age, 10 years married, love for his wife, his son, his job as a doctor? Recreation and playing basketball? The racoons and the destruction of the lawn, his bending the rules about his house development? Buying the poison? His attitude towards Lila, placating her, the story of the cat, his paying for the cleaning of the house, wanting her not to report to the authorities? The dead cat? The sexual encounter? Her pregnancy? His kindness towards Lincoln, finding out about the job, at the school? Going to the meal at Lincoln’s house? Telling him his dream about the arrow? The death of Lila? Peter and his wife, the celebration of Jeff’s 10 years of marriage? Jeff going to see Rebecca, the discussion, drinking, the past, the sexual encounter, his carelessness in leaving the coat? Peter and taking him to the river, the confrontation, getting the money, scattering the cash over the river? Jeff and his friendship with Lincoln, Lincoln and the need for a kidney, Jeff doing the research, the compatibility, Nealy agreeing, his giving of his kidney to Lincoln?
6. Nealy, loving wife, 10 years, the discussions with Jeff, about the lawn? Love for her son? The meal at Lincoln’s house? Lila’s death? The final discussion, the truth, the confession of the affair? Reconciliation? At the end, pregnant?
7. Lincoln, basketball, his talent, the injury, playing with Jeff, his work on the building site, accepting the job at the school, the meal at his home? His gratitude towards Jeff for the gift of the kidney? His indebtedness? The arrow, killing Lila?
8. Lila, eccentric, the rules about house extensions, the returns? Her fussing over her cat? Discussions with Jeff, the cleaning of the house? Her amorous approach? The death of the cat and its ritual? Going to his office, hearing the truth, her pregnancy? Her death?
9. Rebecca, the past, the sexual encounter, separation from her husband? Peter, his work, his accosting Jeff, the clue of the coat, on the river, his decision to scatter the money?
10. The end, Jeff and his destiny, fate, the keeping of the secrets, the motivations? With his wife and her being pregnant?
