Imaginary Heroes

Imaginary Heroes marks screenwriter Dan Harris’ directorial debut, and it seems fairly evident that the man’s got a natural gift for filmmaking. This relatively simple story, following the Travis family as they attempt to deal with the suicide of the eldest son, admittedly owes a lot to Ordinary People but Harris does a nice job of stepping out on his own. The film stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels as the dead kid’s parents, while up-and-coming young actor Emile Hirsch turns in an impressive performance as their underachieving son. Though Harris bogs the film down with a few needless and overly quirky subplots – occasionally giving the film the feeling of a rough cut, with several superfluous moments and characters left in – the film certainly picks up towards the end, as Harris (who also wrote the screenplay) drops the quirkiness in favor of honest emotions. As a result, Imaginary Heroes is a very good movie that falls short of excellence; had it been about a half hour shorter, there’s no doubt that the film would’ve been a strong contender for the Oscars. Still, as far as debut features go, this is pretty darn impressive.

***1/2 out of ****