DVD Review: Imaginary Heroes

A teenaged Matt Travis kills himself after the first five minutes of “Imaginary Heroes.”  And, as the film progresses, his decision to do so begins to make sad sense, or at least as close to sense as any suicide attempt ever can be. The audience realizes that, although the surviving members of the Travis family haven’t given up on life, they have given up on one another. Matt’s father Ben (played by Jeff Daniels) is so emotionally distant that he can’t remember the birthdays of his own kids. Mom Sandy (Sigourney Weaver) is too busy feuding with a neighbor, sidestepping her marital problems and trying to shake off middle age to worry herself over her children’s concerns. And younger brother Tim (Emile Hirsch), the only person who recognizes Matt’s destructive tendencies, chooses to keep his observations to himself for complicated reasons.

The setup for “Imaginary Heroes,” that of a family coping with suicide, immediately brings to mind Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People.” But whereas the earlier film displayed characters who, in their hearts, wanted to survive as one loving unit, the members of the Travis family seem to use tragedy as an excuse to continue selfishly alienating themselves from supposed loved ones. One senses that even if Matt had lived, Ben would have eventually melted down at work, Sandy would have eventually regressed from adulthood to a stage filled with dumb risk-taking and near promiscuity, and Tim would’ve eventually met his mother on her way down to his level. Matt’s death, however, speeds up those evolutions, and the past repeats itself as each person witnesses the ominous changes within everyone else but lacks the desire to think selflessly and take action.

Writer-director Dan Harris has made a movie too depressing to enjoy, yet his honest dialogue makes the film admirable. As his characters fall further and further into self-pitying ambivalence, they speak in language so blunt that the viewer can often only respond by letting out a nervous, incredulous laugh. Sandy, for instance, has a long speech of hate directed at one of Tim’s classmates, but the most cutting remark is her parting cheap shot, “Nice trailer.”

Harris allows his story to become overly complicated to a point where “Imaginary Heroes” risks losing its natural zing and becoming a long-winded soap opera adorned with contrived subplots. However, his writing remains solid even when his ideas turn clunky. Ben and Tim have a confrontation near the end of the film that is deeply moving, even though the plot point that forces the exchange is borderline silly in all its melodrama.

Despite occasional moments of implausibility, “Imaginary Heroes” is a rare example of a feature film that addresses the darker realities of families in crisis. So many movies preach that tragedy can strengthen the bonds between people who love one another. Here is a picture that understands how one traumatic episode can expose the weaknesses in relationships that are poorly maintained.

Posted: June 8, 2005 ,   Modified: September 18, 2005