Rabbit Hole

John Cameron Mitchell’s directorial resume, which includes the sexually explicit Shortbus and the transsexual rock star romp Hedwig and the Angry Inch, hardly identifies him as a candidate to helm a delicately measured and deeply resonant film about loss. But here it is all the same. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play a couple mourning their young son, whose sudden death has landed like a bomb in the middle of their marriage. Grieving in markedly different ways, they’re unable to find solace in each other, instead becoming isolated in their individual pain. Mitchell and writer David Lindsay-Abaire, who adapts his own play, resist emotional grandstanding and let Kidman, Eckhart and a fine supporting cast wring maximum impact from minimal dialogue and loaded silences. It’s as real and raw as a fresh wound. –Matt Semansky