This movie was A-W-E-S-O-M-E. It was brilliantly executed, well acted and perfectly paced. If I had to muster one complaint I would say that there were a few spots where the music telegraphed a little too much of what we were supposed to be feeling. Aside from that it was just wonderful.
Set soon after World War 1, in a time when we knew the difference between good and bad, still had real heroes, played Baseball and believed that tomorrow would be better than today, the movie is a phenomenal commentary on what it is to be an American. It tells a story of "simple farmers with honest dreams" who are struggling to become English speaking Americans as small town mores and governmental paranoia work to keep them apart. It has a kind of "Days of Heaven" vibe, but I actually liked this more than Malick's film. The light and photography are great (nice to see someone using film again!) and a lot of the frames are composed like paintings - the spirit of American Gothic is evoked more than once.
The lead actress, Elizabeth Reaser is great - she wears her entire inner-life on her face and communicates the whole of her emotional spectrum with a look, a nod or a raised the eyebrow without ever going over the top or getting overly-sentimental.
But perhaps the film's greatest strength is the fact that the filmmakers never stooped to sacrifice their character's humanity to make a political point. Yes, the message of this film is timely but often times with material like this, filmmakers have a horrible tendency to impose their will on the characters and either get condescending or put words in their mouths. It was wonderful that all involved here trusted the material enough to not do that.
This film deserves more a lot recognition than it's getting. It's a damn shame.
Set soon after World War 1, in a time when we knew the difference between good and bad, still had real heroes, played Baseball and believed that tomorrow would be better than today, the movie is a phenomenal commentary on what it is to be an American. It tells a story of "simple farmers with honest dreams" who are struggling to become English speaking Americans as small town mores and governmental paranoia work to keep them apart. It has a kind of "Days of Heaven" vibe, but I actually liked this more than Malick's film. The light and photography are great (nice to see someone using film again!) and a lot of the frames are composed like paintings - the spirit of American Gothic is evoked more than once.
The lead actress, Elizabeth Reaser is great - she wears her entire inner-life on her face and communicates the whole of her emotional spectrum with a look, a nod or a raised the eyebrow without ever going over the top or getting overly-sentimental.
But perhaps the film's greatest strength is the fact that the filmmakers never stooped to sacrifice their character's humanity to make a political point. Yes, the message of this film is timely but often times with material like this, filmmakers have a horrible tendency to impose their will on the characters and either get condescending or put words in their mouths. It was wonderful that all involved here trusted the material enough to not do that.
This film deserves more a lot recognition than it's getting. It's a damn shame.