THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS – Rated PG-13

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS – Rated PG-13

Starring Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz

Based on the novel by the same name by M. L. Stedman, and written for the screen and directed by Derek Cianfrance, we meet Australian Veteran Thomas Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender), as he returns home from Europe after WWI.

Contemplating taking on a new position as Light House Keeper on a tiny island off the coast of Point Paraguese, Sherbourne meets the Australian harbormaster’s beautiful daughter Isabel (Alicia Vikander). Smitten by his rugged good looks, and quiet demeanor, Isabel and Tom start exchanging love letters to pass the time away, till Tom returns from his post at sea.

Venturing back to the mainland to marry his angel on earth, Tom and Isabel return to the Lighthouse as newlyweds, as their love and joy in being together is all they need to keep them happy in their secluded paradise.

As the years pass by and Isabel must face the fact that she may never be able to give Tom the family they both so desire, miraculously, a little one washes up abandoned in a boat off the coast of their island, and Isabel is determined to keep this child, and raise her as their own.

Tormented by the fact that keeping this child goes against every grain in his being, Tom must now face the agonizing truth that her mother Hannah (Rachel Weisz) has been searching desperately for the beautiful child she lost years ago, along with her husband, when they drifted out to sea…

I give THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS a rating of MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN!!! : As much as I complained about Michael Fassbender’s academy award nomination last year for his portrayal of STEVE JOB’s, I know a lot of you are going to be surprised by what I am about to say – but both Fassbender and Vikander’s performances this time around are absolute perfection as the loving couple who want nothing more than bring a child into this world. I haven’t seen such incredible chemistry on screen, since we got to witness Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fall in love in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. There is so much passion and fire exuding on screen ~ that you can’t miss watching these actors fall in love in real life, right before your very eyes. Weisz is also fabulous playing the grieving and childless widow; desperately searching for the child she lost. And talk about picturesque cinematography, this film is filled with incredibly glorious images throughout the entire film too. You also need to bring along the tissues ladies, as I haven’t seen a love story this touching since THE NOTEBOOK, and by the end, no matter how hard you try, you will be using them, I promise. Know going in to, that the subject matter of this film is so real and heart-wrenching, that it may hit too close to home for some viewers, as the emotional turbulence that you will endure throughout this very moving film, was too much for some viewers during the advanced screening.

So, by now you have to be thinking, “this is definitely not a flick that guys are going to want to sit through” and you may be right, unless your guy doesn’t mind showing off his softer side, as the raw emotion and painful circumstances that play out on screen, might just break down his emotional barriers too, as this tremendously touching and vividly raw storyline plays out on screen…

Kathy Kaiser