Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) has had leukemia since the age of two. Her parents Sara (Cameron Diaz) and Brian (Jason Patric) made the decision to give birth to a child genetically designed to provide whatever is needed to keep Kate alive. But after years of donating blood, bone marrow, and stem cells, eleven-year-old Anna (Abigail Breslin) is being asked to give one of her kidneys to Kate. She wants a life of her own and resents the fact that her parents seem to be only concerned with her 15-year-old sister. So Anna makes a bold decision to ask Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) to be her lawyer as she seeks "medical emancipation." He takes the case, but Sara, a lawyer before she decided to devote herself full-time to being Kate's caregiver and chief advocate, decides to fight them in court. Meanwhile, Anna and Kate's brother Jesse (Evan Ellingson) is in the midst of his own private meltdown as the family member who is ignored and taken for granted.
My Sister's Keeper is admirably directed by Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) who has a knack for making the most of character-driven dramas that draw out our emotions and touch the heart. The screenplay by the director and Jeremy Leven, based on the novel by Jodi Picoult, skillfully delves into the dynamics of a family besieged by the catastrophic illness of one of its members. We are drawn into the loving and caring relationship between the two sisters and the understandable tension between Sara and her husband Brian, a firefighter, on how best to deal with their beloved daughter's worsening condition. Ironically, despite the attention of her mother, her mother's sister, and a doctor who has been working with them for years; the one person who has the most significant impact on Sara is Taylor (Thomas Dekker), another cancer patient, who becomes a soul mate as she struggles with a bad reaction to chemotherapy. He knows the pain and the frustration she feels and is able to comfort her in a very tender and loving way.
When Anna's case goes to court, the judge (Joan Cusack) is a very decent and wise woman who does well in dealing with the surprises which abound during the proceedings. But perhaps the most spiritual dimension of My Sister's Keeper is the honest and authentic struggle Sara's loving and zealous mother goes through as she tries to let go and honor her daughter's wishes as she faces death.
Special features on the DVD include over 15 minutes of powerful additional scenes.
Films about Sisters
