Posted by Toby Van Buren on March 18, 2002 at 03:29:01:
I would rate the movie at least an 8. I'd rated it higher if I were to rate it by what I personally got out of it, which is what I will do here - say how I personally related to it.
Okay, here we go!
As for characters. Sissy Spacek's character Ruth reminded me so much of my Aunt Eldora, especially when my aunt and I got into heated arguments. When Ruth and Mat were quarreling, basically when it was over, Ruth, cryingly, hugged her husband, agreeing "I AM horrible!" My aunt used to admit things to me that later I admitted I regretted saying about her. Sissy Spacek reminded me of Katharine Hepburn's ability to play character roles so well, and how age did not stand in the way of her making good movies; this too will be true of Sissy Spacek.
Tom Wilkinson reminded me of actor Rod Steiger, very much so!
Ms Weston's character visibly made me think of my own mother, her hair-style, smile, eyes. My mother did not have her southern accent, but she did sort of have her humor. I loved the part when the four were sitting at the dinner table in the country, and Ms Weston came out with - "What is it with SUV..." and how her husband came out with "PMS." THAT was funny! I loved the accent, how this woman pronounced her words. Ms Weston did a commendable job!
Marisa Tomei reminded me so much of my Late and close Friend Debbie Abramson, the same face, except Debbie was very obese; I lost her to Melanoma two years ago. She and I had seen Marisa Tomei in "Untamed Heart."
Nich Stahl was so much like Rob Loew some years ago, a good actor like Loew too.
The Honorable Joseph Field, just a few minutes in the film, the spitting image of my cousin, the Reverend Peter Boeve of Elgin, IL. I even brought my camera in the second time I saw the movie, just to get Field's picture to mail to my cousin; such a resemblance! Is he related to Todd Field? There was another Field who played young Frank.
Marisa Tomei's character's husband - Strout - was rather frightening, yet I could understand his feelings, how Frank had sort of flaunted his feelings about Natalie in front of him. I almost felt the man's rage too! I don't know what I'd have done in the same situation! I'd have felt rage for sure!
I sympathized both with Natalie and Ruth in the scene when Natalie comes to the school after the murder to express sympathy with Frank's mother, offering to help in any way. Yet I could also understand Ruth's feelings when she took off her earphones and slapped Natalie across the face. I would have wanted them to be friends again at some point. Maybe if there is a sequel. Marisa and Sissy both deserve Academy Awards!
The music was quite effective, eerie in a way, yet quite fitting for the movie's content, including the scenery, in the end especially, the full moon, the mist, the lonely approach to a sleep town.
Oh! Got to mention how moved I was seeing the deer in the woods as the husbands were buying Natalie's husband. Just as Matt had shot him, before planned, I could feel how much I'd want the guy put away ASAP too! If my one and only son had been murdered that way!
In the end, the scene of the white wooded house with pine trees all around - reminded me of Woodbourne, NY when I'd gone there on an ARTS retrest late last summer. I really identified with that area of Maine. The habor too, reminding me of Mamaroneck, New York.
I cried during the funeral scene, as if I'd lost someone, and certainly I lost many in my life, gone to many funerals, seven in 1999 alone! I could see myself in many of the cemeteries I'd gone to! I was touched by the pastor's comforting Ruth after she had visited her son's tombstone.
I could feel for the couple, wanting justice in some way, once realizing the killer's power and rich family had bought the killer's less jail sentence, i it would matter to anything at all! I could understand the Matt wanting to take things into his own hands, for the sake of his wife, if for no other reason except his one and only son!
The children in the movie were great, especially this one boy who really idolized Frank. He played his role well. Both boys were good, and I could feel for their dad, how he'd lost them and saw them being handled by another man - Frank. In his own way, he loved his boys, but one was not as close to him as the other. Two different boys - totally!
I'm a product of a divored family, since age three, so I really identified with what went on in a split family. My mother was dating another man while she was still married to my dad. My brother and I were caught up in the middle of things too.
Definitely an academny award movie, certainly for Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei. There is great competition this year, but let it stand that these two should definitely get the oscars!
Toby Van Buren