Virginia (2010)
An offbeat black comedy that is all charm and surprise. It plays off of a nostalgia for a simple middle America and inserts a woman who is both lovable and off her rocker. Her son is a precocious and tender teen with dreams of his own and he gets caught in the middle. The result is warm and funny and actually, in its comic way, tragic.
The star and an amazing star is Jennifer Connelly, but she is well paired with the young Harrison Gilbertson. Third in line is Ed Harris playing a cop or district attorney running for office. It's Virginia Beach, Virginia and there is for some reason a Mormon presence which adds to the humor because of course even Mormons can do outrageous things. Affairs fly against expectations, nuttiness becomes dangerous chaos, and innocence is shattered thoroughly. All in ironic good fun.
The story is key and it's written by the director, Dustin Lance Black. This is his first full fledged movie and it's too bad the responses are so negative. I liked it a lot. Even just appreciating the sheer acting prowess of Connelly is enough to last all the way through. Throw in a half dozen other good performances, some wonderful sets and locations, and really solid photography and it makes for something significant. Finally make the story as crazy as it is and you might have a good time here.
It's not perfect, for sure. They pull the same trick that was used in another, better Connelly film, "The House of Sand and Fog," where the opening scene is the end of the story, and the rest is filling in all the facts. This means a certain surprise is removed, and an expectation raised. You might also say this is all just so frivolous and sensationalist--it means nothing and you take nothing away from it (unlike "Sand and Fog" for example again). And that's true. It's an entertainment, and maybe even a bit of a fairy tale fantasy. Certainly the very last scene, which is after the moment that opens the movie, is a comic (improbable) euphoric conclusion to it all.
Check it out? Yes, if you like offbeat films.
An offbeat black comedy that is all charm and surprise. It plays off of a nostalgia for a simple middle America and inserts a woman who is both lovable and off her rocker. Her son is a precocious and tender teen with dreams of his own and he gets caught in the middle. The result is warm and funny and actually, in its comic way, tragic.
The star and an amazing star is Jennifer Connelly, but she is well paired with the young Harrison Gilbertson. Third in line is Ed Harris playing a cop or district attorney running for office. It's Virginia Beach, Virginia and there is for some reason a Mormon presence which adds to the humor because of course even Mormons can do outrageous things. Affairs fly against expectations, nuttiness becomes dangerous chaos, and innocence is shattered thoroughly. All in ironic good fun.
The story is key and it's written by the director, Dustin Lance Black. This is his first full fledged movie and it's too bad the responses are so negative. I liked it a lot. Even just appreciating the sheer acting prowess of Connelly is enough to last all the way through. Throw in a half dozen other good performances, some wonderful sets and locations, and really solid photography and it makes for something significant. Finally make the story as crazy as it is and you might have a good time here.
It's not perfect, for sure. They pull the same trick that was used in another, better Connelly film, "The House of Sand and Fog," where the opening scene is the end of the story, and the rest is filling in all the facts. This means a certain surprise is removed, and an expectation raised. You might also say this is all just so frivolous and sensationalist--it means nothing and you take nothing away from it (unlike "Sand and Fog" for example again). And that's true. It's an entertainment, and maybe even a bit of a fairy tale fantasy. Certainly the very last scene, which is after the moment that opens the movie, is a comic (improbable) euphoric conclusion to it all.
Check it out? Yes, if you like offbeat films.