*** SOME SPOILERS ***
This is one of those films where you're not sure what the point is. The film is based on the E.L. Doctorow story "Jolene: A Life," published in The New Yorker. You can go to their site and read the synopsis without subscribing. Interestingly enough, the synopsis is almost exactly what happens in the movie.
It is all about a naive young woman who goes through 10 years of mostly torment at the hands of numerous men. She doesn't change that much over that time, and is just as bad a judge of character at the end as she was at the beginning.
So, why watch this? I don't know. It is competently made, with the cinematography and (then-newcomer) Jessica Chastain's excellent performance being the highlights. Admitedly, director Dan Ireland is very faithful to the story, so maybe the problem is with Doctorow. I am not willing to subscribe to The New Yorker to read beyond the synopsis, so I am going to have to guess that the story is where the problem is. The question then would be: Why make this in the first place? I really don't know.
****** (6 Out of 10 Stars)
This is one of those films where you're not sure what the point is. The film is based on the E.L. Doctorow story "Jolene: A Life," published in The New Yorker. You can go to their site and read the synopsis without subscribing. Interestingly enough, the synopsis is almost exactly what happens in the movie.
It is all about a naive young woman who goes through 10 years of mostly torment at the hands of numerous men. She doesn't change that much over that time, and is just as bad a judge of character at the end as she was at the beginning.
So, why watch this? I don't know. It is competently made, with the cinematography and (then-newcomer) Jessica Chastain's excellent performance being the highlights. Admitedly, director Dan Ireland is very faithful to the story, so maybe the problem is with Doctorow. I am not willing to subscribe to The New Yorker to read beyond the synopsis, so I am going to have to guess that the story is where the problem is. The question then would be: Why make this in the first place? I really don't know.
****** (6 Out of 10 Stars)