Demolition (2016) | Film Review

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Those are the 5 stages of grief. If you have ever lost anyone in your life, you recognize the relevance. It’s a tragedy to lose someone we love, and that harsh reality of the immediate void where your heart once beat is a toll too steep for many of us to pay.

Movies have a beautiful way of allowing us a window into the soul, to dive into subjects we typically prefer not to discuss because, frankly, even talking about loss is a pain most prefer to ignore. That is the beauty of a film like ‘Demolition’, it can broach a topic as dire as death and grief, but do so in a way that inspires and reinvigorates the very fiber of our own humanity. Movies like this begin with either the option of torturing us with heartache and sadness, or capturing the meaning of what it all means to truly feel alive.

This is the latter.

Confident investment banker Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) has just lost his wife in a tragic car accident. He is numb, lost amidst a sea of duty and responsibility to a woman no longer here, as he struggles with his own identity now that she’s gone. Davis’ father-in-law, Phil (Chris Cooper) continues to mount pressure for him to pull himself together and assist with cementing his daughter’s name and legacy. Yet, all Davis can think to do is dissect and destroy everything around him, while also writing passionately introspective complaints to a local vending machine company. When that company’s customer service rep (Naomi Watts) becomes intrigued with Davis’ plight, she and her young son forge a bonding of the soul as Davis treks along on his path toward a mended heart through destruction, and a new beginning.

For the last several years, Jake Gyllenhaal has become my ‘go-to’ star. This is an actor who has swung at superstardom a few times, but his talent belongs in films like this. Small, intimate, character pieces showcasing the depths of the human psyche. Gyllenhaal is the rare breed that can immerse himself in a film of this weight without once alerting us that he’s ‘acting’. He’s not. Like he does with every character, Gyllenhaal BECOMES Davis and – even with the merits of director Jean-Marc Vallée (‘Dallas Buyers Club’), a smart screenplay by Bryan Sipe, and a stellar supporting cast – ‘Demolition’ soars due to his complete transition into the role.

As a film, there are a couple of heavy-handed moments that feel a bit too engineered for emotional response, and the film escalating to a small destruction of Davis’ home tips the hand of realism and pushed the boundaries of what they are trying to say to the very edge of believability. Thankfully, Vallée reels things in and ‘Demolition’ returns to a place that resonates as a glimpse into the hollowed heart one absorbs following such a resounding loss.

By the end of the film, after experiencing Davis’ own ups-and-downs, – and if you’re like me, repeatedly reminded of your own struggles with letting loved ones go – you are left with a story that just might inspire you to remember the gift that you retain as those you treasure pass on: You are still alive.

So live.