it's a flawed film, but more compelling than most of the reviews i read gave it credit for. the gulf between characters as people/characters as generational representatives was awkward in many ways, but her evocation of the relationship between the day-lewis character and his daughter was complex and surprisingly bold/unsettling. the daughter was problematic tho - she was given lines that were not hers but miller's, ones that transcended her years and her realm of experience (the acid pad bit was a particular stretch). the actor who played the heavyset brother was very, very good - but again, his character didn't quite work. very wise and self-aware and then, a scene later, there's chocolate smeared across his oblivious face.
ultimately i think her subect was interesting... i'm not sure how convincingly she got her characters to wrestle it out in a fictional realm, but there were undoubtedly some wonderful moments.
― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)