The Book of Henry, a peculiar drama directed by Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) from a script by novelist Gregg Hurwitz, opened last weekend to generally negative reviews, with some critics proclaiming it a disaster. I don’t disagree that the film is confused and needlessly sentimental, yet I consider it a provocative failure—more interesting to think about than a predictable success like Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake (which is currently playing at the Music Box). The Book of Henry features an ambitious narrative structure that keeps viewers on their toes, and its premise is strange enough to hold one’s interest (if never one’s sense of disbelief) for the entire running time. It’s major failing may be that Hurwitz and Trevorrow don’t organize their ideas around a graspable theme; the movie plays according to a nebulous logic, never settling on a recognizable point of view with regards to the material. Sometimes that ambiguity works for The Book of Henry, evoking classic surrealism’s cryptic perspective. Other times, however, the film simply feels like it’s waiting for a sense of meaning that never arrives.
This shift in genre is an ambitious gamble, and I don’t think it plays out successfully. I’d rather see where Hurwitz was going with the relationship between Henry and Sheila than sit through yet another Rear Window knock-off. But before you’ve had enough time to consider the ramifications of Hurwitz’s sleight-of-hand trick, he tries to top himself again. Henry’s plan is stopped because he’s diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He dies after a brief stay in the hospital, roughly halfway into the film. Before he dies, though, he writes detailed instructions for Susan on how to kill Glenn and get away with it. (He also records them on audiocassette for good measure.) The remainder of Book of Henry finds Susan following her dead son’s protocols, with Henry staying in the film as an almost ghostly presence—his instructions are so precise that it seems he’s responding to the events as they play out.
