Reviews
My Sister's Keeper (2009)
Strong performances, good set-up, cops out at the end.
Major Spoiler! Others have commented on the quality of the acting, and I agree. Right down the line, this ensemble was a joy to watch. Others have also commented on what might be called the movie's Hallmark Channel approach to its material. I found it appropriate. My friends and I were of the opinion that it would have been very difficult to try another approach on this very real, thorny subject.
The movie sets up a complex and poignant problem within the family. Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) is dying of leukemia, and Sara, the mother (Cameron Diaz), can't let go. The film goes to great lengths to show us how the situation is damaging everybody else, as well. In her scrapbook Kate writes that not only is she dying, she is killing her family. Unfortunately, she's right.
Anna (Abigail Breslin) fights for her medical emancipation not because she hates her sister, but because she has a right to her own life. This is a brilliant and fundamental conflict experienced in all families, though not so dramatically. How much of my life do I have to give up to promote the needs of the others or of the whole? There is no easy solution to this problem. One person's welfare is often in irrevocable conflict with another's. But after working so hard to help us understand this conflict and all that it implies for this family, the movie cops out. Anna is not seeking her own life. She is, actually, secretly carrying out the wishes of her sister, who wants to be allowed to die. She is bravely going through one more terribly painful procedure on Kate's behalf.
By abandoning the central conflict, the film loses its drama just as it peaks. And, perhaps unintentionally, it comes down on Sara's side. Anna does not have a right to her own life; in fact, she doesn't even conceive it. (The fact that she wins her lawsuit is an epilogue and carries no weight by the time we get there.) It is as if Cain didn't really kill Able. Rather, he pretended to so he could inherit the farm and then give it to Able afterward.
To throw away the movie's major dramatic arc just as it is peaking is a pretty major decision. Why would the movie makers do such a thing? Did they think that we, the audience, couldn't stomach anything more? Are they right?
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
An absorbing movie if you are willing to figure it out
My wife and I watched this movie on DVD. We found the atmosphere and acting to be absorbing. The plot was complex and mysterious, difficult to figure out. In reading comments about this movie, it seems that those who made some progress in figuring it out enjoyed it. Those who could not or were not willing to give it the effort it requires didn't like it so much.
We located a list of clues attributed to David Lynch on the web. They involved paying attention to who did what and where at a specific time. For instance, who are the older couple that arrive at the airport as the movie begins? Something is happening during the opening credits: what is it? We watched the movie a second time paying attention to the hints.
Then we watched the movie a third time with the knowledge we had gained from the hints. It unlocked whole realms of additional meaning hidden in the movie. What a satisfying experience.
We like it when a move asks an investment from us, and then rewards us for making it. We have nothing against movies about muscle-bound men shooting at each other or stupid people acting stupid, but we like this, too.
If you're not willing to give this movie a little effort, then you have no one to blame but yourself for being in the dark.
Ladies in Lavender (2004)
Dench and Smith are wonderful, but there could have been more.
Who could pass up the opportunity to see Judy Dench and Maggie Smith working together? Not me! They get lots of screen time, and they don't disappoint. They provide low key performances that, nevertheless, carry plenty of tension. This is a character story, an evocation of people, time, and place, like so many wonderful small English films.
Some of the editing bothered me. I also wondered about the lack of development given the mysterious character who suddenly enters their lives -- it is a glaring omission, given the attention lavished on the ladies. Here lies what was, for me, the central disappointment in the film. Two German speaking young adults have left their countries and come to Cornwall. Who are they really? Why have they left? What is their business in Cornwall? Intriguing possibilities and complications abound, given the epoch and location of the film. Some of them get mentioned, but they go unexplored. As a result, the film shrinks back from potentially interesting dramatic conflicts. It stays sweet and predictable. It is an enjoyable film, but less than it could have been.