Everything Put Together

An idyllic suburban life has never been portrayed to more queasy effect than in Marc Forster's "Everything Put Together". Angie (Radha Mitchell, "High Art") seems to have it all--a loving husband, a close circle of friends, a baby on the way. But when her newborn dies of SIDS, the isolated grief that quickly intervenes presents an alarming portrait of modern-day tribal outcasting as the American dream gets turned inside-out to reveal a cruel undertow. Treated as though she might taint their own families with bad luck, Angie's girlfriends abandon Angie to her grief and increasingly unstable behavior. Forster ("Monster's Ball") shuttles artfully between the intimate handheld camera commotion of communal activities--neighborly barbecues, shopping excursions, rap sessions among friends--and the motionless scenes of Angie's unhinged state when alone, to create an atmosphere of suburban suffocation matched only by Todd Haynes's "Safe". "Everything Put Together" was shot entirely on digital video, and its innovative direction and excellent cast subvert the familiarity of the home video to chilling effect. "--Fionn Meade"