The Sweet Hereafter

Piercing, sweetly melancholy and acted with a breathtaking eye for nuance, Atom Egoyan's first film from another writer's source material is proof positive that Egoyan the screenwriter is the greatest enemy of Egoyan the director. Russell Banks's novel gives the director material as rich and multileveled as his images, and the result is deeply moving without being sentimental or manipulative. Single father Billy Ansell (Bruce Greenwood), still mourning his wife's death from cancer, drives behind a school bus. His two children stand at the back window waving, as they do every day. Then, as he watches, the bus slides quietly off the snowy road, first coming to rest o...