Grace Is Gone

John Cusack is a husband and father who takes his two daughters on a road trip as he ponders how to tell them that their mother was killed in Iraq in this home-front drama. "Unremarkable from a filmmaking point of view, screenwriter James C. Strouse's first directorial effort functions best as an eloquent metaphor for an American public unwilling or unable, at least perhaps until recently, to come to terms with the wages of the war," writes Variety critic Todd McCarthy. He observes that it, "Appeals much more effectively to the heart than to the head. Philosophically, it steers clear of issues relating to the war, assiduously avoiding ideology and complexity. In doing so, it succeeds on its own simple terms & " Shelan O'Keefe and Gracie Bednarczyk play Cusack's grade-school daughters, and Alessandro Nivola co-stars. Includes the featurettes "A Conversation on Grace Is Gone," with director Strouse and producer/star Cusack, and "Inspiration for Grace Is Gone," plus "Profile of TAPS," a short documentary on the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.