Based on Natalie Robins' non-fiction book, Savage Grace tells the tragic story of Barbara Baekeland, a middle-class woman who married into the Bakelite plastics fortune, but allowed her insecurities to poison her familial relationships and lead to murder. There's no better actress to play her than Julianne Moore, whose work in Far From Heaven, Safe, and The Hours reveals a talent for suffocated housewives, especially of the upper-crust Eisenhower-era variety. Her exceptionally nuanced performance brings a measure of compassion to a monstrous woman, revealing her heartbreaks and contradictions, all tied to a deep vulnerability that goes hand-in-glove with her pathological behavior. Savage Grace should have the force of Greek tragedy, but Kalin's chamber drama feels curiously stifling and flat, and Moore's volatile turn isn't enough to quicken its pulse. Draped in heavy period trappings, the film opens in late-'40s Manhattan, where Barbara and her distant husband Brooks (Stephen Dillane...
- 5/29/2008
- by Scott Tobias
- avclub.com
By Neil Pedley
There's something for everyone this week at the multiplex, what with Carrie and company offering something for the ladies with "Sex and the City," the Tae Kwon Do comedy "The Foot Fist Way" being an alternative for the guys, and "Savage Grace"... well, again, let's just say there's something for everyone.
"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"
With everyone from Little League coaches to members of the U.S. Congress weighing in on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports, body builder (and former user) Christopher Bell injects his own story into this documentary that explores America's obsession with excellence and what it realistically takes to achieve it. Bell chronicles his own family's history of steroid use as a jumping off point to explore the wider love/hate relationship between professional athletes and performance enhancing drugs in a culture where winning is everything and there are no points for second place.
There's something for everyone this week at the multiplex, what with Carrie and company offering something for the ladies with "Sex and the City," the Tae Kwon Do comedy "The Foot Fist Way" being an alternative for the guys, and "Savage Grace"... well, again, let's just say there's something for everyone.
"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"
With everyone from Little League coaches to members of the U.S. Congress weighing in on the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports, body builder (and former user) Christopher Bell injects his own story into this documentary that explores America's obsession with excellence and what it realistically takes to achieve it. Bell chronicles his own family's history of steroid use as a jumping off point to explore the wider love/hate relationship between professional athletes and performance enhancing drugs in a culture where winning is everything and there are no points for second place.
- 5/26/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
- #54. Savage Grace Director: Tom KalinWriters: Howard A. Rodman (Joe Gould's Secret) Producers: Pamela Koffler, Iker Monfort, Katie Roumel, Christine Vachon Distributor: IFC First Take The Gist: Based on the winning Mystery Writers of America in award for Best Fact Crimebook written by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson, this tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland (Moore), the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed, charismatic, Barbara is still not a match for her well-born husband. The birth of the couple’s only child, Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in this marriage of extremes... Fact: Kalin had not directed a feature length film since 1992's Swoon. See It: Delicious euro-flavored drama will get under the skin of many thanks to disturbing themes and chilling acting performances. Read my review here. Release Date/Status?: After preeming at
- 1/30/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Tom Kalin's long awaited sophomore feature (a Cannes Director's Fortnight feature) Savage Grace has finally landed a domestic distribution deal -apparently the folks over at IFC have been working on the some legal issues with the film that I described as "a poetic rendering of antithetical bourgeoisie distractions and self destruction. Daggers aimed from the eye level, brushes with nudity and plenty of polite social banter before heading into uncharted waters will guarantee that most viewers squirm".With the same sort of discomfort level as many of you might have felt with Happiness, this is based on the winning Mystery Writers of America in award for Best Fact Crimebook written by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson, this tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland (Moore), the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed, charismatic, Barbara
- 9/20/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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