Tuesday, January 14, 2003

Far from Heaven (2002)

Hollow and stilted for its first fifteen minutes -- the film is aware that it's a stunt and it wants us to be aware of it as well. But then Dennis Quaid walks into a bar and the emotional life of the film suddenly jumps up and announces itself to all in the multiplex. What follows is one of the few (maybe the only) successful examples of post-modern deconstructive genrefucking mated with genuine heart and feeling (irony with soul, if you will). Buoyed by three excellent performances; Julianne Moore in particular is dynamic as a woman trying to keep a game face up while she's crumbling inside. It eventually spreads itself a little too thin in trying to tackle both the sexual and the racial attitudes of the era, but you can't fault it for trying.

Grade: B+

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