User Reviews

An unpolished script with a lot of potential. Unique but flawed.

Strengths: the director succeeded in creating a haunting film that really touched me. The film contains stunning visual contrasts like running water flowing in the midst of the dry desert, the Hoover dam towering out of flat vistas. Fantastic music--hard to describe, part native american, part celtic, and very beautiful. I wish I could buy the soundtrack.

Weaknesses: From the very first scene you are thrown out of the story because it doesn't look right. A woman walks down the street in high heel shoes after her car breaks down. She carries her luggage in one hand, so why isn't she wearing comfortable shoes? You will continue to be confused about her story far too long into the movie. The dialogue is unnatural and confusing.

The story is about a child-like housewife named Chrysty (Amy Brenneman) who leaves her home and family. In flashbacks we learn that she is emotionally fragile and has attempted suicide. We get snippets of info about her unhappy life, including her tense relationship with her eldest son, and the boring, unsatisfying relationship with her husband. We know she is emotionally wounded, but why she can't communicate or make changes in her life is unclear.

The supporting cast includes good actors like James Wilder, Dee Wallace, Kirstie Alley, and Kathy Najimy. The role of Chrysty's husband is played beautifully by Angus Macfadyen in a touching cameo. Some unexpected, but unrealistic humor comes near the end when James Wilder's character (Rip) pushes Macfadyen's character (West) around. It's not seeing Macfadyen's face flattened against the windshield that is funny, it's imagining a real fight between these two men--clearly, sexy Macfadyen could kick Wilder's handsome butt.

The end is bittersweet. You feel hope that Chrysty will heal herself and find her way back to her family. You are left with the idea that her traumas are emotional rather than physical, that she just needs time and space...but who knows? Maybe she's mentally ill, in need of chemical help. The end does not explain much. But it haunted me just the same.

One of the best things about this movie is that it doesn't serve up the typical apple pie happy ending. It is a little far-fetched but an interesting look at what happens to someone who lives a life that doesn't resemble who they really are. The scenery lends as much to the movie as the dialog...although the characters are not really that developed. It's a little weird. I had a hard time believing that there is a town just like this in the United States. It seems too remote to have the amenities it has. The solidarity among the female characters left to "man the fort" is interesting..they miss the men when they are out working but somehow manage just fine on their own. I am not sure if this is supposed to be a theme.

THERE BE SPOILERS HERE!!!!

This movie was one of those "stranger comes to town and everyone, including the stranger, is changed somehow when the movie ends." Not as visually arresting as "Local Hero" and more subtle in the transformations, but Nevada is something like that movie. And that is why I really liked it, especially the more I thought about it afterwards. For example, I didn't 'get' for most of the movie why Chrysty was so focused at moments on the flow of running water over her; aside from some kind of spiritual cleansing, I got at the end that those scenes were metaphors for the action of the men damming a river in order to change what was already perfection in nature, and women's images/actions of 'flowing-ness', biologically as well as symbolically. I liked that even Chrysty's children accepted the change in their lives and their mother,even if her husband really needed to go rent "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" & watch it 10 times. I really liked how Chrysty was insistent that her children were NOT abandoned if there father was with them, which eventually the townswomen realized is true. I want to make one point about Kirsty Alley's performance, which I've seen slammed here: there's not much an actor can do with a character who is as one-dimensional as McGill, which is how she was written. A loss as soul-searing as McGill experienced limits perspective on everything else in life. And I am not a Kirsty Alley fan but I do give her credit for a thankless role.

Amy B portrays the burnt out housewife and mother perfectly. The movie leads us in several directions all at once; hinting at much and tantalizing with even more. We don't know for some time what Chrysty is running from or where "little Kimmy" really is. What we see is an angst ridden woman that is in extreme pain finding her true self among other women with their own inner demons. McGill lost a child. Linny is losing her husband. June has a baby but not by the husband she adores. Ruth and Ruby, the town lesbians, seem to be the only totally happy people in town and their love and friendship does much for everyone involved. Chrysty came to Silver believing she was stupid and inept but the strong women in this town help her discover how to stand on her own two feet and how to face her past and embrace her future. I loved this movie and am looking forward to purchasing it for my collection.