The Giving Tree (2000)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Cameron Thor

Writers:

Timothy Puntillo (story)
Tim Puntillo (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Best Friends, Dark Secrets

Plot:

Nine former schoolmates, staying at a secluded mountain cabin for a reunion, try to figure out why one...

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Pregnancy | Lesbian | Cannabis | Lesbian Kiss

Cast

Christina Applegate	...	Emily
Justin Lazard	...	T.J.
Johnathon Schaech	...	James
Moon Unit Zappa	...	Alex
Molly Ringwald	...	Penelope
Tiffany Salerno	...	Zoey
Leslie Horan	...	Sara
James C. Victor	...	Jules
Brad Harrison	...	Harrison
Stephen Lisk	...	Zack
Paul Gleason	...	Mr. Forrester
Judee Morton	...	Mrs. Forrester (as Judith Fraser)
Joel West	...	Kyle
Alan Marshall	...	Tate
Gina Salerno	...	Checker

Also Known As:

Brutal Truth (USA) (DVD title)
Shaded Places (USA) (alternative title)
The Brutal Truth (UK) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language, sexuality, a scene of sexual assault and drug content.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

La Famiglia

A memorable one-line starring role.

Back in 1952, Ray Milland, Martin Gabel and Rita Gam starred in THE THIEF, an exquisite film-noir (it was black & white as well as moody) about a nuclear scientist giving away secrets to a foreign power, whose conscience got to him. The film was notable in that there was not a single line of dialogue, yet the filmplay was totally understandable.

This week, I saw Christina Applegate accomplish more or less the same effect in the lead role in BRUTAL TRUTH (written up earlier in IMDB as THE GIVING TREE). I believe her sole line of dialogue was "I'm Emily", quietly delivered as an offhand reply to "Who are you?" after she arrives late to the high school reunion party she is hosting for eight other former gen-X late 20s folks. She then walks out into the yard of her family's expansive mountaintop home and hangs herself from the left-hand rope of her childhood swing.

This early and totally unexpected demise notwithstanding, her offscreen and now-dead presence -- as well various silent on-screen flashbacks of her as a compelled and terrified witness at a gang rape at an earlier party -- eerily dominates this film as few other performances that I have ever seen on screen. I have read somewhere that Christina Applegate is noted for utterly lacking the usual aura of artificiality and affectation that surrounds so many stars in television and films. I have seen most of her films, including Corman's well-made STREETS, and I think she does equally well in serious drama as well as the comedy that she mastered through 13 years of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN. Only an actor with a truly serene and satisfied ego would take on a one-line leading role, but use it to dominate an entire film. Bravo.

And if my memory of film images serves me, her profile resembles that of young Grace Kelly before that lady become Princess Grace, more so than any other contemporary actress.