DVDs in Review

My Sister's Keeper

Title: My Sister's Keeper (2009)

Release date: November 23 2009

Certificate: 12

Format: Reviewed on DVD, available on Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £19.99

Rating: 4/5

'My Sister's Keeper' offers an intriguing twist on the usual medical dilemmas by telling the story of Anna (Abigail Breslin), a child who was conceived via IVF to act as a perfect blood match lifetime donor for her leukaemia ridden older sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva).

Anna has been donating blood and bone marrow and plenty more ever since she was born - in some cases the doctors had to hold her down. Now Kate needs a kidney and Anna knows that if hers is removed it will hinder her life in the future. She doesn't want to do it anymore, but she's a minor - what can she do?

She hires a high-flying lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to sue her own parents for the rights to her own body. Knowing that without this perfect kidney match Kate will die, her parents (played with a remarkable division of cold hearted business and wounded grief by Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) are forced into a corner with no easy exits.

Should a younger sister's life be hindered to help someone who doesn't have long left anyway? This is the central question tackled by director Nick Cassavetes ('The Notebook') adapting Jodi Picoult's bestseller.

Cassavetes' direction isn't anywhere near as gritty as his father's (the master of independent cinema, John Cassavetes) but, like 'The Notebook, this film benefits from its Hollywood gloss - despite the sad subject matter, there are no villains. Everyone is trying to do good and put on a brave face. It isn't meant to shock or even grip you. Instead it's an inviting film brimming with life in the wake of an expiring one.

Across the board, the acting is brilliant, right down to the supporting roles, propelling this tear-jerker into more memorable territory. The use of multiple narrators helps the audience see the dilemma from different viewpoints, and the back-and-forth editing is subtlety done.

Never is the audience given throw away lines to bring them up to speed - 'My Sister's Keeper' evolves naturally and tries its best to avoid clichés. Another bonus is a rare Jeff Buckley track over the final credits - a heartfelt cover of Elton John's 'We All Fall in Love Sometimes'. The DVD contains numerous extended scenes.