Not what you might expect from a 9/11 rumination piece. Somehow it manages to come off as both intensely personal and strangely universal. Superstars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock share the top billing, but their screen time is quite narrow and limited in favor of a stiff, appropriately awkward pre-teen, who struggles for years to find a deeper meaning behind his father's sudden demise inside the towers.

In that role, Thomas Horn (in his first-ever dramatic appearance) is cloudy, conflicted and heart-wrenchingly real. Prone to fits of sudden anger and misdirected violence, he never seems selfish or misguided in doing so - a tricky feat for such an inexperienced actor.

This is a film about trying to piece together a shattered vase without the benefit of adhesive. It's about survivor's guilt, the emotional distance and self-doubt of adolescence and the profound emptiness of a meaningful loss, but while it's often deep, dark and somber, that sense never threatens to engulf us. The boy's father had a light-hearted zest for life that pulses well beyond his own mortality, and his playful spirit lends color and passion to what could have otherwise (quite easily) become an emotional drag.

A spirited, hearty journey that bears a loud spectrum of emotions, and stops just short of exploiting the national tragedy it revolves around.