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mjrain
Reviews
September Dawn (2007)
Interesting story; dreadful film
This is a really dreadful film based on a fascinating, not well known historical incident. The story is both interesting and relevant to our time - dealing as it does with religion gone amok - but the film is a bloated objectionable mess. The script is crammed with way too many little subplots that have no bearing on the story (including, inexplicably, a horse whisperer). Jon Voight is mesmerizing and the best thing about this film, but everyone else should go back to drama class. The film's tone is hysterical and melodramatic where a touch of subtlety would be more effective. Finally, how are we expected to take this thing seriously when the settlers who have trudged across hundreds of miles of dusty trails in their wagon train all have clean clothes, shiny hair and perfectly applied eye makeup? In all, this film made me wish for a good documentary to tell this important story.
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
Devastating portrait of "moral" repression
For more than 100 years Catholic Ireland imprisoned "wayward" girls (unmarried mothers, rape victims, even girls who talked back to their fathers or priests) in asylums that were virtually slave labour camps. The Magdalene laundries were one such institution where girls were locked up and forced to work in brutal conditions for years, decades, or all of their lives. This is a true story that desperately needed to be exposed and I am pleased to say this film tells the story beautifully.
With a cast of young unknown actresses who mostly look like your next door neighbor, and set in the 1960's (when I was the same age as these girls), I was devastatingly aware that this horror could easily have happened to me. (I must confess - I cried so much that by the end of the film I had to go hide in the restroom for awhile). The film is shot in a chilly grey-blue light and is stunningly edited. Much of the story is eloquently told without dialog (the opening wedding scene is an amazing technical feat - so much is said with no words being spoken). In sum, this film tells a depressing story with great artistry. It is good to be reminded that it is not only in Afghanistan that female human rights are violated in the name of religion & morality.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Anderson as Kubrick
Barry Eagon grew up smothered and emotionally pecked at by seven loving but annoying sisters. No parents, and especially no father, seem to be around. He is a basically good and decent man who does not seem able to bear the weight of his isolation, insecurities and anger. He sometimes cries for no reason, and often goes into fits of violent rage hammering out plate glass doors and punching his fist though walls. When we first meet him (Adam Sandler in a fine, tightly coiled performance) he is so full of loneliness and despair he calls a sex chat line in a misguided attempt to talk to a human being who will actually listen to him. That doesn't work out too well, but luckily for Barry, Lena walks into his life (from the alley, surrounded by light), looks and sees him clearly and loves him anyway. Through no particular effort on his part this love gives him strength and grounding. In the early films of Federico Fellini there was often a character who fulfilled the role of angel. Usually a child or a woman, this character saved the hero (morally or emotionally) or set him on the right path (for a good example, see La Strada). Emily Watson's Lena is Barry's angel. In this film P.T.Anderson is continuing to explore the themes of his earlier work (questions of male gender roles and families). I can't help but think he is assuming the role left empty with the death of Stanley Kubrick. They both are responsible for making emotionally complex films, not universally admired, that help to illuminate the psychic strains of our modern life. While I don't believe Anderson has yet attained the genius of Kubrick, I do plan to watch him closely and keep my fingers crossed.
Secretary (2002)
Sweetness & Dark
Very few films even attempt to deal with the kinkier side of human sexual behavior, and those that do (9 1/2 Weeks, for example), end up being either too silly to take seriously or seriously depressing (9/12 weeks managed to be both!) Secretary does everything right. Great script, great style, and above all great performances add up to a remarkably sweet love story that just happens to arise out of an unusual sexual bent. There is an old saying - "There's a lid for every pot". These two people with their nobs in odd places managed to find someone with slots to fit. In the end, true love, personal growth and an almost spiritual transcendence make this film one of the best I've seen all summer.