Change Your Image
hannahariel
Reviews
Grey Gardens (2009)
the story of two spoiled, shallow women
I admire the acting skills of Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, but I was disappointed by the uninteresting story, which I'd sum up as "Pampered socialite mother and daughter see themselves as victims of the Depression and are too passive to take care of themselves. Lacking servants, they are forced to become self-pitying, smelly cat ladies with an appetite for publicity." I wonder if this film would ever have been made if they had not been related to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
The Edie's are boring characters with no gumption or insight or curiosity. Even great actors cannot make them interesting, only pitiable. It might have been a dramatic story if they had made an effort to clean up their own squalor or, (horror of horrors!) get jobs like ordinary people and create a new life, instead of waiting to be rescued.
The music, costumes and sets were great.
Six Figures (2005)
life goes on, despite all the crazy in-laws
I watched Six Figures last night on the MFest channel, where it was incorrectly billed as a murder mystery. I was a bit confused, but soon became immersed in the very real characters created by the talented actors in this film. Mr. Bourne is believable as Warner, a man who not only has the Job from H*ll, but his mother-in-law is apparently from there, too. When his life starts to fall apart, we see him struggling to cope. Only one person in the world appears to believe in him, and we are not sure how long that might last.
Caroline Cave does a wonderful job as strong, sensitive Claire. She is the anchor which holds the story together, and is the only one who seems immune to the dysfunctional behavior of their in-laws.
Six Figures is a story about relationships, and the question, "Do you ever really know another person?". I think it's a good film. My only complaints are the sound (too much echo, in many indoor scenes), and the unresolved shady business at Warner's job, which could have been developed as part of the plot. Whodunnit, indeed.
To the person who thought it was dull: you're watching too many car-chase, exploding-building, machine-gun flicks. A film can be powerful without that stuff!