'A Fall From Grace' Movie Review

Introduction

We watch the life of Grace lose, give up, reminisce, regain hope, lose again, and at the last moment, when all hope is lost, fight back and win. The woman lost her dignity, respect, money and job, but one thing she didn't lose was the grace of having a good lawyer by her side that never gave up when all odds were against them.

Key themes

Jasmine Bryant is given an easy case - all she has to do is make a plea to the jury.

Jasmine, curious, decides to find out the story of Grace Walters

On finding out the story behind the face, Jasmines gains a fire of determination to fight for Grace

Jasmine, with the reputation of settling for less, has no experience of taking a case to trial

Despite all odds, Jasmine perseveres to find any doubt that can convince the jury to find Grace not guilty

With confidence, Jasmine enters the trial, but the prosecution are strong and have a good case, with many witnesses, against Grace

Jasmine relies on last chance witness, Sarah Miller, Grace's best friend, to testify. But this backfires

The defence rests their case and the Judge leaves the last summary arguments til the next morning

On that morning, Jasmine has a new determination fight for Grace, once again asking Sarah Miller up to the stand to testify, however, this is against the court rules. Jasmine persists and is put into containment.

The trial is concluded,whilst Jasmine is in containment. Grace is found guilty by the jury

Jasmine, fired and with poor reputation, goes to visit Sarah for the last time and discovers an unsettling truth

Sarah Miller has been keeping older aged women hostage in her basement

The truth is revealed about the Miller's trade (making the older aged women fall in love with "Shannon" [the son] just to steal their money). The son, "Shannon", dead, but Sarah is still on the run

Sarah is seen receiving a job to help a rich older lady

Key notes/observations

• When Jasmine was walking into the Women's Correctional Facility to visit Grace, she walked behind a news presenter on air when she could have walked behind the cameramen
• Jasmine said "I've never seen a guilty person cry yesterday" - that sentence does not make sense. Perhaps she meant to say "I've never seen a guilty person cry until yesterday" (poor script check/editing)
• Why didn't any coffee spill on the table when Rory, the public defence office boss, slammed the cup on the table?
• The diner that Shannon and Grace ate at had a very casual setting (booths, red lighting), yet they had fancy wine glasses and neat waiters with black tie uniform. Very strange and conflicting mise-en-scene
• How was the restaurant still open at 2 am? Did Shannon pay the restaurant to stay open for longer, just for them? He said he wasn't rich, so how could he have payed them off? (he says he is not rich but has a very nice car and had his pictures shown in a gallery)
• When Grace is telling her story, in voice-over form, she sounds clear, calm and collected but when we see her in 'present day' she sounds tired, scared and effortless.
• When Shannon is taking pictures of Grace, the camera screen is dark as if he hadn't been using it
• What does Sarah do for work? Who are the tenants? Are they paying her?
• No smoke appears to be coming out of Shannon's cigarette
• When Grace pushed Shannon down the stairs, he landed and then moved his arms upwards - this couldn't happen if he was dead
• Are Donnie and Tilsa (Jasmine's lawyer friends from work) dating?
• How did Jordan (Jasmine's husband), have time to take off work to be at the trial (he was in his police uniform - was he mid-shift?)
• Jasmine was not in containment for too long, yet her hair was all messed up - typical stressed, black woman look
• So why did Grace actually want to plead guilty? Why didn't Sarah trap Grace in her basement like all the other victims?
• Shannon was hit very badly on the head by Grace, not enough to kill him, but possibly render him brain-dead or leave him with brain damage. This means he should have been incapable of fighting Jordan, but he wasn't.
• Why was Alice not trapped in the basement like the other women? Why was she allowed to roam free?
• Alice had a dirty face and dirty nails, yet her dressing gown was always clean
• Where did Sarah and Shannon get their older aged, female victims from?

Conclusion

A Fall From Grace is said to be another typical Tyler Perry movie. But I disagree. The film followed the downfall and struggle of a black female character, yet we are left with a twisted ending that made us realise all the insignificant stories that were occurring during the main story, were all connected. The ending was very thrilling and made the film exciting as it did seem to go on forever. I liked how we know what inevitably will happen to the next victim and we are intrigued to know how Sarah will do it without her beloved son. The story is truly unexpected and did not fail to end well.

Cast

Crystal Fox - Grace Walters

Bresha Webb - Jasmine Bryant

Phylicia Rashad - Sarah Miller

Mehcad Brooks - Shannon

Cicely Tyson - Alice

Matthew Law - Jordan Bryant

Tyler Perry - Rory

Donovan Christie Jr - Donnie

Angela Marie Rigsby - Tilsa