NEVERWAS

I can't remember the last time I saw so many grown men crying in one movie, but they all went straight to my heartstrings, and it was a relief to see their story come full circle.

As I settle in to review Neverwas, I can hardly believe the movie never was released. With its sparkly cinematography, emotive score, and impressive cast of characters, it seems like it could have been a sleeper hit of the holiday season. It's a shame no one bothered to market it, because Neverwas is a sweet, strangely magical little movie.

Zach Riley (Aaron Eckhart) is the son of renowned children's author T.L. Pierson (Nick Nolte). Though he appears as a central character in Pierson's most celebrated novel, Neverwas, Zach does his best to downplay the connection. It's like being a modern day Christopher Robin, but the memories of growing up with Pierson are haunting and painful. Emotional breakdowns, intense neediness, alcoholism, and institutionalization were all par for the course with T.L. Pierson, and he clung to young Zach like a life preserver.

Eventually the responsibility became too much for this small boy, but when he finally pulled away, his father committed suicide. Though Zach knows that he was really too little to intervene, he still struggles with guilt and suffers severe insomnia. In an effort to make up for the wrongs of the past, he takes a job as a therapist at Millwood - the same mental hospital where his father fell through the cracks. He doesn't reveal his connection to the hospital's director (William Hurt), and complications soon arise.

Gabriel Finch (Ian McKellen) has been in and out of mental institutions for the past forty years, and has been uncommunicative with his therapists for the bulk of this time. However, he takes an instant shine to Zach, almost as though he recognizes him from somewhere. Though this is slightly unsettling, Zach dismisses it as a delusion. He continues in his quest to help the residents of Millwood (including the charming Alan Cumming), and works to deal with the emotional worm can he has opened in his own life.

Though living in his hometown is stressful in countless ways, Zach finds a ray of hope in an old friend. Ally (Brittany Murphy) is the younger sister of one of his childhood friends, and she couldn't be happier to see Zach. She's a huge fan of Neverwas, and credits the book with helping her through the loss of her parents. She even uses a Neverwas lunch box as a purse - how cool is that?! She and Zach quickly rekindle their friendship, but both have suffered heart-breaking loss in their lives, and the romance between them exists more as a promise than a reality.

Having fully immersed himself in his past, Zach is now forced to face issues he's been avoiding for years. He's confronted with his difficult mother (Jessica Lange) on a regular basis, and his sessions with Gabriel Finch are only getting stranger. Finch insists that he is King of Neverwas, and seems to have the proof to back his claim. Is it possible that he does know Zach from somewhere? Could he be the King of Neverwas, or is he simply the Mayor of Crazytown? If Zach hopes for either of them to move forward, he will have to face his own status as hero and protector of Neverwas. As the pieces fall into place, fantasy melds into reality and broken souls are finally mended. It's a healing journey for the movie's characters as well as the audience.

Neverwas is a peculiar little film, but it's intriguing nonetheless. It captures the magic of imagination and the heartbreak of reality in equal measure, and proves that fantasy can sometimes deliver the hope we need to survive. The characters are all so vulnerable, their emotions so raw, that you can't help but empathize. Aaron Eckhart has been a favorite of mine since Erin Brockovich and always plumbs deeper than expected. Ian McKellen is both regal and pathetic as Finch, and Nick Nolte simply breaks your heart. I can't remember the last time I saw so many grown men crying in one movie, but they all went straight to my heartstrings, and it was a relief to see their story come full circle.