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Reviews
An American Crime (2007)
One of the worst films I have sat through
The case of Sylvia Likens is worthy of being examined in books and films. It is truly one of the most shocking and disturbing crimes to have ever been committed in America. However, this film fails to say anything, to study the crime, or even present it effectively. If you are interested, take a half hour to read about the case on google. There's a fairly in depth article that comes right up. The true events of what happened to Sylvia are far more horrible than anything seen in An American Crime. One could argue that this was done for the sake of the audience and out of respect for the victim. But, the way the movie glosses over these details crosses the line by not doing justice to the story. It sanitizes it. That's the major problem with the whole picture. It often feels very fake, like a TV movie, which doesn't sit right with something so very real and awful. Catherine Keener seems like a good choice for the part, but her performance is played so low key and sympathetic that it almost creates doubt over her guilt! She hardly raises her voice the entire time and tortures Sylvia with tear filled eyes. The direction comes off as sympathetic to her as well. Did anyone stop to think that Banizewski might have been just pure evil? Ellen Page, a great actress, is also completely miscast. An actress with an incredible diction is given next to nothing interesting to say. She plays the part as an awkward tomboy, making the sexual accusations come off as completely ridiculous, as opposed to creating feelings of impending dread. The entire sexual abuse element is almost completely ignored, save for one brief moment that actually happened in real life, but rings false in this bastardized account. About 30 seconds of this movie does work, however. There's a scene towards the middle that takes place without Keener, where the neighborhood children beat and torture Likens. This shows the horrifying group-think that caused her death. While this scene appeared to veer close to the seedy and disgusting environment in which the story took place, the rest of the film is a waste of talent and everyone's time.
A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)
A misunderstood classic
Note: This doesn't really contain spoilers, but hey, one slip of the mouse could blacklist me.
I just finished watching the outstanding Shopgirl and I couldn't help but think of this film. I've probably seen it around ten times. Only two or three times at home, but in high school I swear teachers showed it once or twice a year to kill some time. It didn't matter if we were reading Silas Marner or not. It has never gotten old.
People seem to go into this movie expecting a comedy, but it's really not. It's a haunting and beautiful movie filled with imagery that I can still see in my head, even though I haven't seen the movie in a couple of years. I assume when this came out, it was largely ignored because it had the look and conventions of other lesser movies of the time. Besides, who would want to see a drama from Steve Martin? Now that it's years removed from the climate it was released, it can truly be appreciated for what it is. A true gem.