cinehunch
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
01
Why this pick
Like Taking Chance, it finds gravity in the military’s rituals surrounding loss. Its restrained performances and attention to small, difficult human encounters make grief feel intimate rather than melodramatic.
02
Why this pick
Another journey accompanying a fallen serviceman home, approached through conversation, friendship, and the practical details of mourning. It is more openly comic and argumentative, but shares Taking Chance’s compassionate respect for ritual.
03
Why this pick
Its patient, observant focus on ceremonial care for the dead closely matches Taking Chance’s reverence for process. The film draws its emotion from gestures, silence, and the dignity afforded to strangers.
04
Why this pick
A quiet civil servant tries to give unclaimed dead people a dignified farewell. Its sparse pacing, procedural detail, and deep compassion echo the understated moral tenderness of Taking Chance.
05
Why this pick
This is also an escort journey shaped by military bureaucracy and an unexpected bond. It is rougher and more irreverent than Taking Chance, yet similarly attentive to the humanity obscured by official procedure.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
The film opens on a black screen, with white letters describing the date and place, as we hear radio chatter about a "suspicious vehicle" followed by the sound of an explosion and gunfire. We then cut to see two Marines driving, wearing dress blue uniforms, to an unmarked house in the middle of the night and knocking on the door. Finally, we cut to Colonel Michael Strobl (played by Kevin Bacon) searching on his computer the casualty report for the Middle East. After a couple clips of Michael running through the woods, service members' coffins getting put into an airplane, and some driving, we find the Lt. Col. at work giving a presentation to several other Marines. The Lt. Col. makes his way home with his family for a short while, then the camera cuts to five Marines in woodland MarPat camouflage taking US Flag-draped coffins off of an airplane in the rain. After a short clip of the Lt. Col. eating dinner with his family, we find him looking at the casualty report yet again but this time he writes down some information. The movie then cuts to him in an interview with a higher ranking Marine and he asks to escort a Marine named PFC (Private First Class) Chance Phelps. He says it is because the PFC is from his hometown, and then we see him discuss his choice with his wife. After he explains that he is doing this only because the PFC is from his hometown and has no other meaning, the film cuts to several people doing medical procedures on a dead body which one can assume to be PFC Phelps. After the morticians are shown, the film then cuts to the Lt. Col. leaving and telling his wife goodbye.
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
LtCol Mike Strobl
Nate Strobl
Gary Hargrove
Tom Garrett
Kelley Phelps
MGySgt Demetry
Corporal Arenz
Gretchen
