What a movie! This film was beautifully rendered, remarkably well paced, catching the sweep and majesty that is the family unit, enduring, loving, laughing, together—possibly only conveyed by such mottoes as ‘one for all and all for one’. The family, the Fitzgeralds, under tremendous pressures and soul-killing circumstances, play together, love and live each day under the shadow of death. I didn’t breathe much after the first few scenes, as I didn’t want to gasp or try to stop a sob. Sitting in the press row isn’t always all that. The pacing of the family fun and the gut-wrenching situations rotates rhythmicly, with a lot of happy and then something happens and there I was, again, checking my breathing. 

My Sister’s Keeper has a natural warp and woof to it as a family’s history does, with a question, a look, a touch sparking memories of other times, good and bad. The script attempts to tell a straightforward story of a few days in the Fitzgerald’s suddenly disrupted routines, yet each of the family members tells their story, with their memories expanding on the moments’ thought or touch. Back and forth, happy and sad, explosive and soothing, the viewing of this film is a exhausting. 

Topical issues inspected minutely in this script are pro-life, designer babies, personal control over one’s body, and an interesting legal concept, medical emancipation. 

My Sister’s Keeper showcases astonishingly good performances by two engaging young actors, Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva. Probably best known for Little Miss Sunshine, Breslin also turned in wonderful performances in Kitt Kittredge and Nim’s Island. Gifted with the precocious child demeanor, she was a good fit for Anna, the youngest Fitzgerald child, who takes matters into her own ‘legal’ hands during a particularly difficult time for the family. Vassilieva portrays Kate, living her life in the shadow of leukemia, with a gentleness and maturity glimpsed sometimes as the eldest daughter in ‘Medium’, her TV job. Both young women worked masterfully together, developing the sister bond aspect of the storyline with an affectionate chemistry pleasant to watch. Their good luck, and ours, was that Dakota Fanning didn’t wish to shave her head, and declined the parts for both herself and her sister Elle. 

Cameron Diaz, more familiar to everyone for her sillier comedic roles such as There’s Something About Mary or a more dramatic personal favorite In Her Shoes, brings depth to Sara Fitzgerald, wife and mother. The script gallantly tackles the breadth of a mother’s devotion, sacrifice and mamma bear tendencies, and Diaz variously works through these traits. Surprisingly, she doesn’t get in the way of the story, instead demonstrating dramatic chops in several scenes with the family, in the courtroom, and the hospital sequences with the staff. She thoroughly convinces as the powerfully resolute Mom, once a high-end lawyer, then in-service to her terminally ill daughter. Sara’s tenacity allows Kate a life beyond five years old, in fact an additional decade. The cost is high not only to Sara, but the entire family, and especially, little Anna whose DNA compatibility keeps her in and out of procedures to help keep Kate alive. 

Sara’s own sister, Kelly (Heather Wahlquist, The Notebook) is the perfect foil to Sara, a staunch sister-support network for Diaz’ Sara, no small task, and loving aunt to the children, always there for the whole family. 

Veteran actor Jason Patric (In The Valley Of Elah) portrays Brian, a well-adjusted firefighter, husband and father in a life that can only be described as a truly difficult tightrope act…one that any one of us would hope to navigate so gracefully. Brian is quietly working full time, fathering as best he can and honoring his vows to Sara, and their pact made before Anna was conceived. Brian’s ultimate rebellion scene caps Patric’s nuanced performances. 

The eldest child, son Jesse, was performed by Evan Ellingson, another youngster best known for his TV role in ‘CSI: Miami’. Jesse, the most stoic of the Fitzgeralds, loves his family, yet is the quiet observer, unsure of his part in the dynamic, his feelings on the equity of his mother’s unswerving dedication, or of what he can or should do with his own life. Jesse’s eye-opener scene is a key element and Ellingson delivers sufficiently to hold it together in the scripted revelations and resulting tumult to the family. 

Thomas Dekker (with considerable TV and movie credits) is Taylor Ambrose. Kate, while in one of her myriad chemo cycles, meets him, finding him a very cool, good looking young man. She gives him her phone number and they begin dating. The charming, utterly doomed relationship is somewhat mesmerizing, certainly devastating and uplifting at once, and is not gratuitous in the least. 

A stand-alone, premiere performance by Alec Baldwin as the lawyer to the rescue, Campbell Alexander, could make a great movie on its own, especially if the service dog is included. I admire Baldwin’s subtlety, if not always his choices in roles…one thing is sure, he’s his own actor, choosing what he likes…this time he settled on a real winner. His facial expressions, witty comebacks and serious support of Anna’s case are of a man who, as unlikely as it may seem, really cares about the outcome of this case, certainly enough to accept Anna’s savings of $700 as payment in full. Their week in court knits the storyline together. 

Also no surprise was Joan Cusack’s Judge De Salvo bringing a hail-mary play to the legalities which shows her ability to examine a role and then add that extra authority making her character very moving. 

Of note are the doctor’s roles, Dr. Wayne, by Jeffrey Markle, and Emily Deschanel as Dr. Farquad (also primarily TV actors). Both convincingly performed in the roles meant to convey the difficult positions the medical people in our lives find themselves. The nurses were sensitively scripted as well, and all did a fine job, with Ellia English quite memorable. 

Granted, this film may be easier to watch in private, with your remote in hand to control the emotional wallop, but voting with your pocket book was never more important. Not My Sister’s Keeper is a bona fide attempt at depicting the very real agonies and rewards of people caught in the mist-obscured web that is terminal illness. Not really the Hollywood easily categorized film, Not My Sister’s Keeper certainly doesn’t pull any punches. 

All of the actors deserve mention as delivering superlative performances, in a truly well-developed ensemble cast. Director Nick Cassevetes finally is choosing good vehicles. The writers, Jeremy Leven and Cassavetes, although having several axes to grind, did an impressive job of collecting this much topical and emotional material into a coherent script, breaking rules with everyone narrating their own stories, constant flashbacks and risking the gag element with the soundtrack. 

Catch this movie. Go to RAVE, then downstairs after, to Yogurtland for some fruit and frozen yogurt by the ounce, and get the hang of swallowing again.